


Thorns In The Rose

by Dazonia



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Blunt trama, But this is a killing game so people murder some people, Characters going kinda crazy, Characters may be kinda ooc but there are reason for that, Execution, Head Injury, Its a spoiler to say whoses unsympathetic, M/M, Mentions Kinks, Murder, Murder Game, Murder Mystery, Other, Sex Talk, Tw self harm briefly, Violence, dangaronpa inspired, no spoilers for anything cannon, thoughts of murdering, unsympathetic characters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-04
Updated: 2021-01-06
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:08:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 10
Words: 26,900
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27387709
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dazonia/pseuds/Dazonia
Summary: Ten high schoolers find themselves trapped in a school. Beware of what insanity might overcome their minds.
Relationships: Anxiety | Virgil Sanders/Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders, Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders/Deceit | Janus Sanders, Logic | Logan Sanders/Morality | Patton Sanders
Comments: 44
Kudos: 54





	1. Trapped in Hell, Oh Well.

Janus Locus woke up on the floor. Normally that wasn't unusual, but this was definitely not his bedroom floor.

He looked around the room while still on the floor. He saw desk and a chalkboard, so he assumed he was in a classroom.

He grabbed a nearby desk and got himself up, and took a better look around the classroom.

His eyes were first drawn to the windows. They had metal plates over them, and nails held them down. 

Janus decided to not try anything for now, as he still had no clue where he was, so mess with things was probably a bad idea.

He then looked at the chalkboard and actually saw writing on it.

'Go to the Dinning Hall as soon as you see this.'

Janus hesitated. Should he trust this? After all, he was most likely kidnapped and thrown into this random school.

But then he saw a blinking red light in the corner. A camera.

Fuck.

He decided to leave the room, because he knew he might not have much of a choice because he was being watched.

~

He wandered the halls for what seemed hours.

When he almost decided give up and take a nap on the floor, he found two big brown doors, a label on a gold plate next to the doors.

'Dinning Hall'

Janus sighed in relief and through about the doors. 

In the room, there were nine people waiting in there, seemingly anxious as he felt.

"Look, someone else!" A guy with purple hair pointed at him, and everyone turned to look at him.

"Your punctuality needs improvement." A man with slicked back hair and square glasses criticized.

"Where the fuck are we?" Janus put oh so eloquently.

"The hell if I know Hun." A dude wearing sunglasses waved a hand in the air.

"How are you so calm about this!" A brown curly haired guy exclaimed, looking at the sunglasses man.

The sunglasses man shrugged. 

Before anyone else could cut in, a loud announcement echoed into the room.

"Attention Students! Everybody has made it to the Dinning Hall, so please introduce yourselves then wait for further instructs. This is your headmaster signing out."

It was quiet for a moment before purple hair talked. 

"This is completely fucked up."

Everyone nodded in agreement, and slicked backed hair spoke up.

"Well here are introductions. My name is Logan Garbell, and I am seventeen."

A boy in round glasses spoke up next. "Hi! I'm Patton Kalex and I'm eighteen!" He greeted with a wave.

"Sup I'm Remy," sunglasses man said. "I'm eighteen."

"Virgil Harrison." Was all purple hair said.

"Remus Prince, seventeen." 

"Roman Prince, twin brother to that idiot." Roman rolled his eyes.

"Emile Picani, age eighteen." He smiled politely.

"Thomas Sanders, seventeen."

"Nico Flores, age seventeen."

"I'm Janus Locus, seventeen."

After Janus spoke the speaker came to life again. 

"Thank you students! Now to the Gymnasium to meet your headmaster!"

Nobody made a move. Roman scoffed.

"I'm going to find out what's happening, you cowards can stay here." Roman stomped out the room.

Remus raced after his brother, yelling something like 'who are you calling a coward?'.

Soon after everyone else followed.

Janus remembered seeing the Gym while trying to find the Dinning Hall.

He and the other quickly made their way there, and found a huge empty room.

"What's going on?" Patton muttered nervously.

"Yeah, there's no one here." Thomas agreed.

"Oh yes there is!" The same voice from the speakers said.

The student's looked around the room, trying to find the source of the voice.

"My name is...." The voice trailed off.

Then suddenly a spotlight appeared on the stage in front. In the spotlight appeared . . . 

"MONOKUMA!!!"

A bear?!

Everyone stared in shock.

"Huh?" Nico said in confusion.

"What?" The bear- Monokuma tilted it's head.

"Oh my!" Patton exclaim. "You're adorable, I just want to pet you!" Patton went near Monokuma, but was pulled back by Logan.

"No! That thing could be dangerous." Logan gripped onto Patton's shoulder.

"Yeah, hands off the bear!" Monokuma growled. "Treat your headmaster with some respect!"

"But, you're just a stuffed animal." Emile counter.

"Oh how you wound me!" Monokuma put a paw over his heart.

"Why are we here?" Logan glared at the bear.

"Hey, no need to be cold!"

"Answer the question!" Roman barked.

"Okay, okay! No need to be a meanie!" Monokuma pulled a sad face. 

"Welcome to the Hopes Peak Academy Killing Games!" 

After that everyone showed different emotions.

Roman and Virgil looked angry.

Thomas and Patton looked to be on the verge of tears 

Nico and Emile looked very puzzled.

Logan, Remus, and Remy were annoyed.

Then there was Janus, who was feeling all of the above.

Everyone exploded after a moment. 

"I'm gonna die?"

"What the fuck?!"

"Say that again Fuzzball, do you want my fist in your face?"

"Enough!" Logan's harsh voice spoke over the shouting, silencing it at once.

Logan looked at Monokuma. "You brought us here so you could kill us?"

Monokuma laughed. "Nono, silly! You're all here to kill eachother!" 

Patton let out a sob. Logan finally let go of Patton, seeing him no longer a danger to himself.

Remus huffed and crossed his arms. "You can't make me kill anyone Fuzzball."

"I can't make you do anything dumdum," Monokuma jumped off the stage to stand infront of the group. "All of your actions will be of your own free will."

"So that means there's a chance no one will die?" Emile hoped with bleary eyes.

"Sadly, yes. But I doubt!" 

"Do you think anyone here would kill?" Virgil raised an eyebrow.

"Anyone could kill with the right motives. So, whenever I get bored, you all will receive a motive."

"Muh- Motives! For murder?" Patton stuttered out.

"Du-Du-Duh!" Monokuma mocked.

"But don't think you can go around killing people all willy nilly, we have rules after all."

The spotlight Monokuma was standing in before moved to the right corner, reveal a box. 

Monokuma leaped over and grabbed the box, and came back to the students. 

One by one, he gave everybody a small book with a lanyard sticking out of each.

"These are your student handbooks, and inside is your student I.D."

True to his word, Janus opened the book to find an I.D with his picture on it. 

To his surprise, it showed his current haircut, with his hair hovering about his shoulders.

Before a month, his blonde hair was to his mid back, but his mom wanted him to cut it.

(*"Jan, having longer hair too much maintenance for you!" His mom always complained. It took two years of nagging but he did it eventually.*)

"Now if you turn to the first page, you will see all the school rules. Go and read them all now." 

Janus turned the page and began reading.

RULE 1: VIOLENCE AGAINST THE HEADMASTER IS PROHIBITED. YOU WILL RECEIVE NO WARNINGS BEFORE PUNISHMENT.

RULE 2: NIGHTTIME BEGINS AT 10PM AND ENDS AT 6AM. WATER WILL BE TURNED OFF BETWEEN THOSE HOURS AND CERTAIN ROOMS WILL BE LOCKED.

RULE 3: THE BLACKENED IS ONLY ALLOWED TO HAVE TWO VICTIMS.

RULE 4: IF THE BLACKENED GETS AWAY WITH THE CRIME, THEY WILL BE SET FREE AND EVERYONE ELSE WILL BE PUNISHED.

RULE 5: IF THE BLACKENED FAILS TO WIN THE TRAIL, THEY WILL RECEIVE A PUNISHMENT AND EVERYONE ELSE WILL CONTINUE LIVING.

RULE 6: AN ACCOMPLICE WILL NOT BE PUNISHED IF THEY DON'T KILL.

"What does it mean by Blackened?" Remy tilted down his sunglasses.

"I'm assuming it is who the killer is?" Virgil guessed.

"Ding ding ding! Correct." Monokuma gave a thumbs up.

"Wait, what did you mean by trail?" Logan asked. 

"You'll hopefully find out soon!" Monokuma laughed.

"Now because that's all done with, if you turn to the last page in your handbook, you'll see a map of the school," Monokuma instructed. "Now you all go to your dorm rooms. Get to know where you'll be staying for awhile!" 

"What about after that?" Thomas asked, holding his handbook against his chest.

"I don't care!" Monokuma roared, scaring Thomas. 

"You can explore any unlocked room on this floor until nighttime, or do whatever, anything else?"

"Yes I wan-" Monokuma cut off Logan. 

"Great, no more questions! Goodbye!"

Then he was gone.

The student's stood in silence.

"Well, we should go see our rooms." Logan said, then walked out.

Soon everyone else followed in their own time.

~

Janus found the room with his name on it.

After the knob refused to turn, he was tempted to try and pick the lock.

"You have to scan your I.D. under the scanner, then you can open the door." 

He turned over to see Logan coming out of what Janus assumed was his room.

Following Logan's instructions, he was able to unlock the door.

"Thanks Logan." Janus gave him a small smile, even though the situation seemed far to grim to smile.

"No problem." Logan said, then walked away. 

Janus wondered how he could be so calm under the circumstances, never showing fear.

Some people are just like that, he decided on. So with that he walked into his room.

It was a simple room. It had a bed, a small side table with drawers, and a small bathroom. He also noticed a monitor, which confused him, but he ignored it for now.

Janus looked into the bathroom, a simple sink, toilet, and one of those glass door showers you usually only see in trailers or some hotels.

He exited the bathroom, and went back into the main room. 

Curiously, he looked in the drawer, expecting it to be empty.

But sadly he was wrong, as the drawer contained a hammer, with a piece of paper.

HAMMER

MOST FATAL-

HEAD (BLUDGEON TO TEMPLE)

RIBS (BREAK THEM, PUNCTURE ORGANS AND CAUSE INTERNAL BLEEDING)

Janus felt kinda sick. All of this was seriously fucked up.

He slammed the drawer shut and decided to go explore the school.

~

Looking at his map, Janus decided to go to the Kitchen.

Barely getting lost this time, he found his way to the Kitchen.

Here he saw kitchen appliances, food stocked up that could last awhile, and Patton scarfing down chocolate.

"Hey Patton." Janus greeted.

Patton looked up. "Oh hi Janus! You startled me." Patton laughed.

"So you found the Kitchen?" Janus stated the obvious.

Patton nodded. "Yup! When I get stressed I eat sugar," He rubbed his hand behind his neck and smiled guiltly. "Even though I can't use the Kitchen very well, I still enjoy being in it."

Janus nodded. "It was nice to talk to you, but I'm going to go look around some more."

Patton nodded, and shoved another piece of milk chocolate in his mouth.

~

Janus was wondering where to go next while walking in the hallway. 

Conflicted between searching for clues of what's happening or trying to find more things they might need to survive, Janus accidentally ran into something.

"Oof!" Okay make that a *someone* he ran into.

"Oh sorry!" Janus apologized, and looked up to see Remus.

"It's okay, your tiny body just knocked the air of out of me for a second."

"Hey I'm not that short!" 

Remus raised an eyebrow. "I'm 5'9, how tall are you 5'4?"

Janus's eyes widen, as Remus guessed his height correctly.

"Maybe." He muttered and looked down.

Remus let out a hardy chuckle, and put a hand under Janus's chin, making Janus look him in the eye.

"A shorty like you needs some protection, so I'll be your protector!" Remus let go of him and gave a wink.

Before Janus could retort, a monitor, like the one in his room, turned on, revealing Monokuma.

"Attention Students it is now 10pm. Which means it is officially nighttime." Monokuma vanished on the screen. 

Remus gave him a smirk. "Guess we know what the monitors are for now."

"Yeah."

"Well, shall we walk back to the dorms together?" Remus bowed and offered a hand to Janus.

Janus stifled a laugh and took Remus's hand.

"Lead the way."

Remus grabbed Janus's hand took them back to the dorm. 

They enter the hallway and entered the separate dorms in silence.

~

Janus had a lot to think about. 

Laying on the bed, he tried to lull himself into any type of sleep.

But he had questions on his mind, why was Logan acting so calm, why was he feeling so weird towards Remus, and would there be any killing?

Soon these questions overtook his head, and he feel into an uneasy sleep.


	2. Driven by Motivation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Our first motive of the killing game!

Janus woke up to a voice he thought was only a nightmare he had.

"Attention Students! It is now 6am. Nighttime is officially over!" 

Janus didn't open his eyes but he assumed Monokuma made an appearance on the monitor.

Janus sighed and unwrapped himself from the blanket and walked to the bathroom.

He decided to take a quick shower to help himself wake up, although he didn't have a change of clothes.

~

He left his room still feeling gross, but better than actually being gross.

He decided he wanted to head to the Dinning Hall, grab some food from the Kitchen, then randomly dick around for the rest of the day.

In the Dinning Hall, it look to be everybody was there.

"Hi Janus!" Patton smiled at him while eating a donut.

"Hey Patton, is everyone here?"

Patton swallowed the bite of the pink donut with rainbow sprinkles he just took.

"Almost. Logan decided to go look around some more, but apologized for not showing up." 

"Ah okay." Janus nodded and left for the Kitchen.

In the Kitchen Janus looked around for something, but eventually just decided on a green apple. 

He headed back into the Dinning Hall and sat with the others.

There Thomas and Nico talked about their family's, and how much they missed them. 

"I miss playing dumb sports with my sisters," Nico spoke softly. "Even though I sucked at them, I still enjoyed playing with them."

Thomas nodded in agreement. "I wish I could tell my friend Joan just one last thing. I would give anything to talk to them one last time."

Remy, Emile and Patton were discussing which was better, tea or coffee (although Patton was mostly just listening, as he couldn't talk with his mouth full). 

"C'mon babes, coffee just fills you with life." Remy held up his mug.

Emile lifted his own mug into the air. "But tea is much better for your health. It can fill you with a calming sensation."

Patton spoke after finishing half of his donut. "I think hot chocolate is a nice way to go!"

Virgil and Roman sat farther away from the rest of the group, but Janus could tell they were most likely having a friendly conversation, by the way Virgil held a small but genuine smile, and Roman could be heard laughing.

"My brother totally has a crush." Remus whispered to Janus.

Janus raised an eyebrow and took a bite of his apple. 

"How can you tell?"

Remus smirked (Janus couldn't help but enjoy that smirk, for reasons unknown even to him) and looked back at the two.

"I've known Roman my entire life obviously. It might just be a twin thing, but I've never been wrong when it comes to Roman's crushes."

Janus took the final bite out of his apple. "I'll believe you. I think it's nice love could bloom in a horrible place like this."

Remus gave a small smile. "Yeah."

Janus got up to throw away his apple core, and right after he heard it land at the bottom of the trash can, the monitor lit up.

"Attention Students! Please report to the Gymnasium for your very first motive!" 

Janus gripped the edge of the trashcan. He wanted to believe that no amount of convincing could get these people to kill anyone, but he couldn't help but feel nervous.

He felt a hand on his shoulder. He glanced over and saw Patton giving him a comforting smile. 

"It's okay Janus. I know that everything will be okay in the end."

Janus saw how white his knuckles had gotten and released his gripped on the trashcan.

With a deep breath he turned around. 

"Thank you Patton. Let's go."

~

They were the last ones there, and Patton saw Logan and turned to Janus.

"Is it okay if I-"

Janus gave a short laugh. "Go ahead. I understand how much you like to check on people."

Patton gave a smile that said 'thank you' and walked over to Logan.

"Finally! You people sure are slowpokes!" Monokuma appeared on the stage, this time standing on a podium.

"Why are we here?" Roman complained.

"Weren't you listening idiot? I'm here to give you the very first motive of our little killing game."

The room was quiet while waiting for Monokuma to reveal his motive. 

"Our very first motive is . . . ." A drum roll played in the background.

"Other peoples secrets!" Monokuma shouted with joy, and reveal envelopes with all of our names on them.

"What the fuck does that mean?" Virgil asked the question everyone was thinking.

Monokuma handed everyone the envelope with their name on it and started explaining.

"Your envelope holds someone else's secret. But it also has the name of the person who has your secret. It could be a big secret, or a little secret. But you'll never know who has your secret unless you open your envelope."

"So if none of us open the envelopes then there's no motive right?" Logan asked.

"Yes, but I put so much thought into this motive! It would be a shame for if to go to waste." Monokuma took on a disappointed tone. 

"Great, then I have an idea." Logan walked across the gym and grabbed the box the that was still there from yesterday when they received their handbooks.

"We will all put our envelopes in this box, and leave it in the main hall. We can all check daily together that none of the envelopes have been opened, and thus keeping it safe here." Logan explained.

"Any objections?" Logan threw his envelope in the box. 

One by one, all of them threw in the envelopes, until all of them were in there.

"Great. Now let's continue looking for clues about what's going on."

~

It's been an hour since the motive was revealed, and Janus admittedly still had a bad feeling. After all, curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back.

But if someone died, no amount of contentment would bring them back.

Janus sighed and continued his way to the bathhouse.

It was the only open room he had yet to explore, mostly because the idea of a public bathhouse makes him uncomfortable. 

But pushing back his objections, he entered the room anyway. 

It was a simple room. One large bath, lockers, and two long benches. But after looking around carefully he noticed something. 

The bathhouse doesn't have cameras.

Excited by this discovered, he decided to go to the Dinning Hall, hoping the others would be there for lunch.

~

Luck was on Janus's side, because everyone was in the Dinning Hall.

"Hey guys, I found out something!" Janus sat down.

"So did we." Logan shared.

"You can go first Logan." Janus offered.

"Alright." 

Logan laid his hands down on the table. 

"Apparently, each of us has a different weapon stored in our drawers, along with a note telling us where the most fatal spot using said weapon is."

"So should be tell each other what our weapons are?" Thomas suggested.

"Good idea. I was given a butcher's knife." Logan was still calm.

"I have a hammer." Janus shared.

"A baseball bat." Nico.

"Some rope." Patton. 

"A 20 pound weight." Thomas.

"A hatchet." Virgil.

"A spear." Remus. 

"A lighter and some matches." Roman. 

"A needle and some poison." Remy.

"A textbook." Emile.

"Damn." Virgil muttered.

Logan wrote down all the weapons. 

"This should help us just incase we need to know who has what." 

"So Janus, what was it you discovered?" Logan was ready to write more. 

"I saw theres no cameras in the bathhouse." 

"Huh, interesting." Logan was writing more.

"Well duh!" Monokuma came out of nowhere, startling everyone. 

"Why duh?" Roman questioned.

"Well you're all teenagers, and teenagers have needs! I don't want to see that!" 

"Gross!" Emile gagged at him.

"Well you asked." Monokuma shrugged, and was once again gone.

Weird, but okay.

"So is there anything else anyone would like to bring up?" 

Everyone gave some form of no, and soon enough everyone was on their own again. 

~

"What's up Shortbus?" 

Janus stopped in his tracks and turned around. What is it with Remus always stopping Janus in the middle of the hallway.

"Nothing for now, Tallass." Janus gave a grin.

"Wow, the dog barks back," Remus laughed. "But the dog is telling a lie."

Janus raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean, lie?"

"You said nothing when that obviously not the case. You're scared for what could possibly happen."

"No. I trust everyone here, I say that everyone will be fine."

"You say that, but what do you think."

"I-," Janus glared at him. "You don't have to go all physiological on me."

Remus let out a hum. "Maybe you need, maybe I'm just being annoying, but we'll never know." And with that in the air, Remus walked away.

~

Janus laid down, staring at the ceiling. He wonder how they were expected to be able to sleep in a horrible circumstance like this.

But he got the answer, when he drifted off due to his inevitable tiredness.

~

"Attention Students! It is now 6am. Nighttime is officially over!" 

Janus wished he had the hammer closer to him, that way he could throw it at the loud monitor.

But he got up, stretched, took a quick shower (he still felt dirty, would he get used to this) and went to the Dinning Hall.

~

When he got there, Janus saw people already there, and somehow awake looking.

Logan and Emile were eating bagels while discussing the horrible affects being here could have on people, which Janus decided to tune out.

Remy and Virgil bonded over coffee, and how insomnia sucks.

Roman and Remus, were having what Janus assumed was a sibling argument.

Then Patton was sitting by himself, somehow lost within eating his chocolate poptart.

Patton noticed Janus walk in and waved him down.

Janus took this as a sign that Patton want to sit next to him, so he did.

"Good morning Patton." Janus said, trying but failing to keep the tiredness out of his voice.

Patton put down his half eaten poptart.

"Morning Janus! Hey, have you seen Nico or Thomas around lately."

"No Patton sorry."

As soon as those words left his mouth, Thomas walked in.

"Oh there he is!" Patton waved to Thomas as he did to Janus, and Thomas joined them.

"Hey Thomas, you had me kinda worried there!"

"Oh sorry Patton," Thomas rubbed his hand behind his neck. "I guess I was in the shower for too long."

Now that Janus noticed it, Thomas's hair was wet, and his jacket zipped up around him like a blanket.

"Oh no need to apologize," Patton waved it off. "But have you seen Nico anywhere?"

"Nope. After my shower I came right here." 

Patton just shrugged it off. "He's probably skipping breakfast. I should bring him something to eat."

Patton got up and went to the kitchen, then returned with a red apple.

"Do you even know where he is?" Thomas asked.

Patton shrugged. "I'll try his room, then look around for him."

"Okay then, we'll see you later Patton." Janus waved goodbye.

Patton returned the wave then took off.

"Hey you don't think something, happened to Nico do you?" Thomas asked hesitantly.

Janus shook his head. "I don't believe anyone could kill. Beside, we all gave up our motives so there's no reason for a killing to happen."

Thomas visibly relaxed. "Thanks Janus."

Janus nodded and started a light conversation with Thomas about desserts they like.

Everything was calm for a minute, before everyone heard a blood curdling scream.

Logan was the first up, and he sped to the sound of screaming, quickly followed by everyone else.

There was Patton tears running down his face, and standing infront of Nico's open door.

Logan and Roman were the first to step up to see what was going on.

Roman gasped in shock and Logan visibly tensed.

Janus stepped inside with the other two and almost vomited at the sight in front of him.

Nico was slumped down in front of his bed, his head was dented and bloodied.

"Attention Students! A body has been discovered! After a certain amount of time used for you to investigate, a class trail will begin!"

Patton's sobbing grew louder after the monitor turned off.


	3. A Batter's Chance to Get Ahead

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Who do you think did it? Will you be right? Possibly!

Logan was obviously the first to break the silence. 

"We need to investigate. It will be more efficient if we all split up to work." 

Patton looked up at him. "Buh- But there's uh- a killer on the luh- loose."

Logan thought for a moment. 

"If you are nervous than you may go with someone," Logan stated. "However be warned that you may end up with the killer, and according to the rules, they can still kill one more person."

Patton began to tear up more, but decided to leave the crime scene.

"Wait!" Monokuma yelled right before Patton left the room.

"You all need these!" He handed each person a sheet of paper.

"What are these?" Remy asked.

"Well, cause I'm SOOO NICE, I'm giving you basic facts about the murder."

"What abou-" Logan wasn't able to finish his question, because Monokuma was gone once again.

"Well then, put yourselves where needed and read the paper. Search for clues." Logan was then gone.

Everyone except for Janus and Remus left the room.

"So it's a good idea to start in here?"

Janus nodded. "We need a weapon."

"Yeah," Remus looked at the paper. "It says that it was a bludgeoning."

Janus looked at the paper himself.

*'THE DEATH OF NICO FLORES*

*Death: Beat with blunt object multiple times of head*

*Time: 11pm last night*

*Room found: Nico Flores Dorm Room'*

"So we need a blunt object." Janus said. 

"Yeah," Remus thought for a moment. "Do you remember everyone's weapons?"

"No," Janus looked down.

"I think I have an extra list actually." Remus stuck a hand into his been pockets.

After some searching he pulled out a crumbled piece of paper.

"Ah here is it!" Remus flattened out the paper and went next to Janus (very close to him).

*'Weapons of everybody*

*Butcher's knife = Logan*

*Janus = Hammer*

*A baseball bat = Nico*

*Rope = Patton*

*20 pound weight = Thomas*

*Hatchet = Virgil*

*Spear = Me*

*Lighter and matches = Roman*

*Needle and some poison = Remy* 

*Textbook = Emile'*

"I was able to get Logan let me copy it down later." Remus explained.

"So are suspects with blunt objects were Me, Thomas, Emile, and Nico had one, but. . ." Janus trailed off.

"Wait, if he was killed in here, then the weapon might be in here." Remus proposed.

"Let's look." 

So Remus and Janus looked around the small room, finding nothing in some of the obvious places.

"Wait," Janus said. "You found nothing in his drawer?"

Remus nodded. "Yeah, it was empty."

Janus looked at him. "So that means that the baseball bat is most likely the murder weapon."

"Yeah thats mostly likely it." Remus agreed.

"So someone killed Nico with the weapon in his own room." Way to be obvious Janus.

"So the killer must have somehow been able to enter the room, Remus check to see if the door lock is broken?"

Remus ran over. "Nope, Nico must have let the killer in." 

Janus sighed and glanced over the room one last time. He was about to leave before he spotted a piece of paper in the trash.

He piece it up and noticed it was torn in half vertically, but tried to read it anyway.

'Hey,

Please meet in in my room at-  
It is very important because-  
Not showing up will mean-

From, Nico Flores'

Janus showed Remus, who looked at him with wide eyes.

"Huh, you should keep it," Remus suggested. "This will definitely be important."

"Yeah, thats a good idea. Let's go investigate other places."

~

Janus and Remus walked around, both still on edge and weary of their surroundings.

"Where should we check next?" Janus wondered aloud. 

"How about the bathhouse?" Remus offered.

Janus shrugged, but it wasn't like they had too many open rooms. "Sure."

They saw Logan already there, and looking around.

"If you do investigate in here, please search the right side of the room." Wow straight to business.

The two boys quickly did as Logan instructed, Remus checking the lockers and Janus searching the surrounding areas.

Janus was looking at the area around bench, then when he looked under, he gasped.

"What have you found?" Logan raced up to him, followed by Remus.

With shaking hands, Janus pulled out a bloody baseball bat.

He set it down on the bench quickly and shivered in disgust.

Logan examined the weapon thoroughly, bending down to the bloody bat's level.

After a moment Logan sprung up.

"We need to check something."

Remus and Janus followed Logan to the main hall.

Logan led them to the box holding everyone's envelopes. Logan looked inside and curled his hands into fist angrily. 

Janus didn't know what to expect. But he didn't want to see all the envelopes open, that's for sure.

"Holy fuck." Remus whispered next to him. Holy fuck indeed Remus, holy fuck indeed.

Logan turned to look at them. "I need to do more investigating, so you two should go somewhere else."

So with that, Logan shooed them away.

~

While walking, Remus turned to Janus. 

"So who do you think did it?" 

Janus glanced to the side. "I don't know, and I don't want to know."

"No one wants to know anything," Remus was calm while talking. "Ignorance is bliss after all." 

Before Janus could answer, the horrible alarm turned on.

"Attention Students! It is time for the class trial! Please follow your maps to the red door!" Monokuma left the screen with a sickening giggle.

Janus and Remus walked in silence.

~

They were the last two to arrive to the red door.

The others decided to wait for everyone to arrive at the door before entering.

Logan pushed open the door to reveal an older looking elevator.

After everyone got into the room the elevator instantly started to descend down. 

Janus looked around at his classmates.

Logan looked bored and nonchalant, like he did this everyday.

Patton looked horrified. Like someone else would drop dead any minute.

Virgil was biting his lip and playing with the sleeve of his hoodie. Anxiety is what Janus guessed.

Thomas looked nervous, which was understandable as someone would die in this elevator killed someone.

Remy tried to look bored, but you could see him shake ever so slightly.

Emile had his head down and his hands politely folded. He seemed to be mourning.

Roman kept his eyes open and was surveying the room like he was trying to find something.

Then there was Remus. His face held no emotion, except when he looked over to Janus with an encouraging smile. 

Janus felt nothing. Well, maybe not nothing. He felt either truly nothing, or so much that he forced himself to block out all emotions.

The elevator ride was long. Maybe three minutes, but that felt too long. 

But he didn't want to step out of the elevator when it came to a stop, but his dumbass feet moved without his permission.


	4. Trial and Error

Once everyone was out of the elevator, they were greeted with a room full of tall standing desk that had pictures of everyone , and Monokuma sitting on a throne.

"Finally! I'm was getting bored!" Monokuma exclaimed. "Now everyone go to the desk with your picture on it!"

Everyone complied and made their way to the correct desk. Janus noticed an empty one, which he saw had a picture of Nico on it, his face covered with an X.

"Great! Now then you Bastards ready to reveal who the blackened is?" 

Nobody said anything. 

"I'll take your silence as an 'We're completely prepared Headmaster Monokuma!' so start now!" 

And with that final note, the trail began.

~

Janus wasn't surprised that Logan was the first to talk.

"First we have to discuss the motive," Logan began.

Roman rolled his eyes. "It's the letters Captain Obvious."

"Yes, but what exactly was in the letters." 

"Secrets." Emile said. 

"Correct," Logan continued on. "So I looked through the letters."

"What!" Remy shouted.

Logan shrugged. "I'm sorry I invaded your privacy, but I think solving a murder is worth it." 

"Well, yeah, but you could hav-" 

"We'll talk about that later, for now, I wrote down who had whose secret."

Logan took a note card out of his breast pocket and began to read it out loud.

"I had Virgil's secret, Virgil had Roman's, Roman had Janus's, Janus had Remus's, Remus had Emile's, Emile had Remy's, Remy had Thomas's, Thomas had Nico's, Nico had Patton's, and to complete the cycle, Patton had my secret." 

After a moment of silence, everyone's eye's shifted over to Patton.

"Wait? Why me?" 

"Because he had your secret," Roman glared. "If it was really bad then you could have killed him."

"I would never kill anyone!" Patton started to get teary eyed.

"It is possible." Logan explained. "That Nico let you in because you are a friendly face, and he let his guard down. Then you could have could a baseball bat from behind your back and attacked him."

Patton was full on sobbing by now.

"That might not be true." Remus spoke up.

"What do you mean?" Virgil raised an eyebrow.

"Janus, remember what we found in Nico's room?"

Janus thought for a moment, before remembering. He pulled out the crumbled note from his pocket.

'Hey,

Please meet in in my room at-  
It is very important because-  
Not showing up will mean-

From, Nico Flores'

"From this it looks like the killer might have been asked to come into this room."

Logan nodded. "This is very important, but that doesn't clear Patton of all suspicion."

"Wait!" Thomas exclaimed. "I saw Patton last night in the kitchen!"

"You saw me?" Patton looked shocked.

Thomas nodded. "Yeah, I was going to get a drink of water, but I saw Patton there and I didn't want to bother him." 

"So Patton has an alibi?" Virgil asked.

Logan nodded. "It seems so for now. But we have more to discuss." 

"The murder weapon?" Remus guessed.

"Correct. Remus, Janus, and I found it stashed in the Bathhouse underneath a bench."

"Why in there?" Emile queried.

"They most likely wanted to get rid of the murder weapon and in a panic, tossed it away." Logan guessed.

"Maybe they wanted to wash the blood off in the Bathhouse. It would be the easiest place to wash off something." Roman suggested.

"You can't wash anything off during that time though." Remus interjected.

"Huh?" Remy looked at him.

"Remember rule number two?

"RULE 2: NIGHTTIME BEGINS AT 10PM AND ENDS AT 6AM. WATER WILL BE TURNED OFF BETWEEN THOSE HOURS AND CERTAIN ROOMS WILL BE LOCKED."

"That's right!" Monokuma confirmed.

Logan nodded. "So it's very likely the killer planned to wash the blood off, but they forgot about rule two. So, the left the murder weapon behind seeing no other choice."

"Times almost up!" Monokuma chimed in.

"What!?" Roman glared at the bear. "You didn't say anything about a time limit!" 

"Well duh!!! You can't have all the time in the world."

Janus could feel the dread setting in. He was going to die here. Oh god. He would never get to see his mom again, he would never get to graduate high school, he would never live his life!

He had to think. Think goddamnit! Think!!!!

Wait. Thomas's alibi for Patton.

*"Wait!" Thomas exclaimed. "I saw Patton last night in the kitchen!"*

*"You saw me?" Patton looked shocked.*

*Thomas nodded. "Yeah, I was going to get a drink of water, but I saw Patton there and I didn't want to bother him." * 

"Thomas, can you say why you saw Patton last night?"

Thomas nodded and shot him a confused look. "I was thirsty and wanted a glass of water."

"But it would have been impossible for you to get water. The water was turned off."

"Yeah, I realized that after I tried the kitchen sink." Thomas shrugged at Janus.

"No." Logan shook his head. "If you did try the sink in the kitchen then Patton would have seen you, and eariler he was very shocked you saw him there, so Patton obviously didn't notice you there." 

"And what are you implying?" Thomas glared at him.

"I'm not implying anything just yet." Logan said calmly. 

"If I killed Nico, wouldn't I have gotten blood splattered on myself?"

Janus thought back to the blood crime scene. It's true that if would be difficult to avoid.

"See, I had no blood on me when you guys saw me the morning after the murder." Thomas almost looked . . . smug?

Janus had to admit he had point. He was far too clean to have been bloody. 

Actually, he was really clean that morning.

"Hang on," Remus called out. "That morning you were late because you took a shower."

"So?!" Thomas glared. "I like to take showers in the morning, is that a crime?"

"That's the first time you've taken a shower in the morning, and you were late." Emile pointed out.

"Well I felt asleep so I need a shower to wake up!" 

"It's over Thomas." Virgil spoke up.

"Yes it is!" Monokuma jumped up from his throne. "It's time to vote!" 

"No, wait!" Thomas started begging.

"Use the levers in front of you to decide who the blackened is!" Monokuma giggled.

The room for silent for what felt like either five minutes or two hours.

Finally the room lit up. On a screen appeared a casino slot machine.

The virtual lever was pulled and it cycled around the people, slowly stopping at Thomas.

The screen exploded with confetti and applaudes as the words GUILTY, covered the screen.

The cheering died down as Monokuma spoke. 

"Correct! Now, do you want to tell them how or should I?"

Thomas looked down at his feet. "He was going to kill me."

Everyone except Logan looked shocked.

"Can you give me the other half of the note?"

Thomas nodded and took out a piece of paper that got clenched in his fist.

Logan took both pieces of the note and put them next to eachother, and began to read the full product out loud.

"'Hey,

Please meet in in my room at 11:00 after nighttime begins.  
It is very important because you have my secret and I can't risk it getting up.  
Not showing up will mean I'll have to reveal your secret instead.

From, Nico Flores'"

Thomas choked out, "He was going to kill me."

"I'm assuming he invited you inside then attacked you with the baseball bat?" 

Thomas nodded at Logan's guess. "He swung at me, but I was able to get out of the way," Thomas was crying. "After I dodged him I was able to kick out of one his legs from underneath him. He dropped the bat and it rolled away. But not far enough, because he almost had his hand back on it, so I panicked and grabbed. I didn't realize what I was doing until I heard the-"

*CRACK*

*Thomas dropped the baseball bat after looking at the corpse infront of him.*

*Oh god, no. No. NO. OH GOD. He fucked up. Shit. Shit!*

*If he tried to explain he would still get kill. He had to hide this.* 

*Carefully and shaking, Thomas looked around the room.*

*First he had to get rid of the evidence he was there.*

*He remembered the note. If they saw the note, they could go through the letters in the box and find out everyone's secret holder!*

*In a panic he torn the paper in half and toss part of in the trashcan, as he didn't know what to do.*

*Hastily, he left the room, not wanting to be there any longer.*

*Shit, he was still holding the baseball bat, and his shirt was bloody.*

*. . . Oh the kitchen sink!*

*Thomas ran to the kitchen, ready to try and at the very least get the blood off of the bat.*

*It was a good thing he looked quietly first, because Patton was in the kitchen snacking on something.*

*Thomas's breathe caught in his throat, as he made his way back into the main hallway.*

*In a panic, he rushed the the bathhouse, hoping it would get rid of the blood.*

*But he got there, and when he tried to handle, no water came out.* 

*That's when he remembered rule number two.*

*He cursed, and left the bat underneath a bench and prayed that it could stay hidden for a while.*

*He needed to figure out something.*

"So I waited til morning to try and take a shower," Thomas was finishing his story in shame. "My shirt was still kinda red, but I wasn't wearing my jacket when I did it, so I put it on and hoped no one would notice." He unzipped his jacket, and there was a splatter of light red on the yellow fabric, and if he didn't know better, Janus would have assumed it was a pattern.

"So, it was a kill or be killed situation?" Remus broke the three second long silence.

Thomas bit his lip. Then he broke into full on ugly slobbering.

"He was going to kill me!" He wailed. "I had no choice! Please don't kill me!!!" 

Monokuma yawned. "Yeah, yeah, how sad. But you killed someone, and you read the rule book! The blackened must be punished!"

"No! Wait!!!" 

"It's punishment time!!" The bear yelled before all hell broke loose.

A chain from came from out of nowhere and wrapped itself around Thomas's neck and dragged him into a fenced off area. Thomas clawed at the chain but it was no use.

"A execution for our little expiring actor is Take A Bow!!!" Monokuma yelled with glee.

The chain dragged Thomas to a stage, where a curtain closed behind him, and the chain forced him to bow.

In front of the stage was an audience of Monokumas, who started to boo and heckle.

Janus could see the Monokumas take out small objects that had roses on the end of it.

At once they threw them at Thomas, not a single one missing him.

The sharp rose knives dug into his flesh as Thomas started screaming and struggling.

Janus has only glance briefly to the side, and saw Patton covering his eyes with his hands. Janus wished to do something similar, but a mysterious force compelled him to keep watching the strange and unusual punishment. 

The knives stopped coming at Thomas, and his face showed a sign of hope.

Until a red grenade with a white rose on it was thrown onto the stage. 

Thomas had no time to react before it blew up.

The Monokumas started to cheer and clap, though it started to die down once the ringing in his ear became noticeable.

After that, it was over.

Monokuma looked at the remaining eight high schoolers.

"What are you brats still doing here? It's over so shoo!" 

With that final note, they made there way back into the elevator, then without a word everyone went back to their cottages.

Janus laid down on his bed, he could still hear slight ringing and the sounds of Thomas screaming.

He will never forgot the sight of him, almost dead, and thinking for a moment he might live. But the despair on his face once the grenade appeared, if even only for a second, made him sick to his stomache.

He could not survive this sick game.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments and reactions are appreciated!


	5. Mourning is Worthless

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pay attention to this chapter! Watch out for things that might be connected to the murder that will soon happen!

When the morning announcement played, Janus just wanted to scream.

He didn't remember falling asleep last night, but he remembered the flashes of the two deaths that happened just yesterday.

Nico slumped down unmoving and bloody.

Thomas being attacked with knives, that hint of hope in his eyes when he was still breathing and knives stopped coming for him.

But that look of despair when the grenade blew up. It made Janus's mouth taste like bile.

After staring at the ceiling for who-knows how long, Janus forced himself to get out of the bed.

He was tempted to take a shower to shake off his ill feelings, but after he remembered Thomas took a shower to help hide his crime, the thought of showering made him feel much dirtier.

So with each step feeling heavy, he made his way to the cafeteria.

~

It was quiet.

Patton was not being talkative and friendly.

Logan looked to be stressed and in deep thought. 

Roman and Remus sat next to eachother, saying nothing.

Virgil, Emile and Remy had yet to arrive.

This entire thing was fucked up.

Janus grabbed a glass of water and sat down.

He didn't know what to do. It felt wrong to talk, but not talking made him feel off.

He picked up the glass and held it up to his lips. The water seemed to help wash down the sickness in his throat.

Three quarters of his water were gone by the time everyone had been in the room. 

Virgil was the last to arrive, Remy being the first and Emile a few minutes after that.

According to the clock on the wall it was 6:43am.

"Aww don't look so down!" 

Of course, it was the fucking bear.

The one that trapped them there.

No one dared to say anything. "Hey, can you cowards here me?" 

"You killed our friends." Patton shattered the silence.

Monokuma scoffed. "Is that what you think happened? That Thomas killed Nico, which was basically him signing his death warrant."

"Why are we here!?" Logan gritted his teeth.

Monokuma rolled his eyes. "To eat duh. It is a cafeteria after all." He gave his annoying laugh and disappeared.

It was quiet. Again. Janus never liked the quiet. When it was quiet, bad things happened. 

Bad thing. Bad Things. BadThings.

The glass he didn't realize he was holding shattered in his hand. Pieces cut his hand then fell uselessly to the floor.

Everyone stood up and came around him. 

"Shit Janus, that looks bad." Virgil said as blood poured out of his palm.

"Is there somewhere we can treat it?" Patton wondered aloud.

"Now there is!" Monokuma was here again.

"Didn't you just leave?" Remy glared at the stuffed animal.

"Yes, because you were being so mean to me," he faked a tear before continuing,"But what I came eariler to tell you is that the second floor has opened up!" 

"So more rooms?" Emile guessed.

"Ding ding ding! Right on the money!" The bear laughed. "Anywho, on the second floor there's a sauna, a pool room, a workout room, and a nurses office!" 

"We're free to explore up there then?" Logan looked ready to run there right away.

"Yep! Just don't do anything bad! After all it would be no fun if you killed without a motive!"

Patton looked at him. "We're not getting anymore motives?"

Monokuma giggled. "Hell no! You'll get your motive tomorrow, but don't worry, because it'll be a dosey!" He left the room, leaving behind a bad feeling with everyone there.

"We should split up and look around the second floor." Logan quickly spoke.

"I'll take Janus to the nurse and we'll look around in there." Remus declared, and left his brother to stand next to me.

Roman shrugged. "I'll go look at the sauna."

Virgil jumped up. "I'll go there too!"

Remus bent down next to me and whispered quietly. "Poor love sick idiots. They choose to fall in love in a horrible situation." Remus lifted his head back up and carried on as if he said nothing.

Janus was beginning to feel like a poor love sick idiot too.

"I wish to check out the pool room." Logan said.

"Can I go with?" Patton asked.

"Alright. That leaves Remy and Emile to the workout room. Any questions?"

Everyone gave some sort of 'no'. 

Logan nodded. "Then let's go. Hopefully we'll find clues on how to get out of here." 

~

The nurses office was very stereotypical looking. White walls, two beds with curtains to pull around them, a first aid kit hung up on the wall.

Remus sat Janus down on the bed nearest to the door and began searching the room for gaze.

He opened up a plastic cabinet, and quickly found a roll.

He plopped down next to Janus and took his hand.

"You know I could do this myself right?"

Remus laughed. "Not easily. Also it's still bleeding slightly so you would come out looking like Carrie White."

This got a laugh a out of Janus. Remus looked shocked for a second.

"You actually get that reference?"

Janus nodded. "I love that book! I'm a huge horror fan."

Remus was gently gripping his hand as he wrapped it in gaze.

"Have you seen any of the movies?"

Janus flushed. "No, but I've listened to and watched the musical."

The weight on his hand felt comforting. He wanted Remus to hold his hand forever. 

"That's cool. I've heard theres a musical but never listened to it."

"I recommend it." Janus felt like he put his face to close to a bonfire considering the mass amount of heat he felt.

Remus grinned at him. Oh the face made Janus want him. How did he want him, Janus didn't know.

It was quiet for a moment before Remus finished up.

"There how does it feel?" 

Janus felt worse now that Remus didn't have his hand anymore.

"It's good, thanks." His hand was trapped in the position, so hopefully he could free his left hand soon.

Remus brushed himself off and stood up. He offered his hand to Janus, who accepted it with his good hand.

Janus just wanted to hold on to the warmth of the other boy. But he let go as soon as Janus stood up. 

"Well, let's look around the room." Remus began searching.

Janus also guided himself around the room. He looked in some glass cabinets. He saw bottles with labels on them.

"Looks like some medicine." He murmured.

But he looked closer, and saw one label.

*ARSENIC*

Janus jumped. Remus walked over and looked at what Janus had.

"It looks like some medicine, but also poison." Remus shared.

"Oh, how lovely." Janus said sarcastically.

"You shouldn't be surprised, this is a murder game after all. Oh there's five bottles of perfume here!" 

"Why?"

Remus shrugged. "We're smelly teenagers." With that note, Remus continued searching on the other side of the room.

After a few minutes of searching, the two only found some basic medical supplies and left the white room.

"Should we check on the others?" Janus asked as the two walked the halls together.

Remus nodded. "Nah, I'm sure no one else bit the dust."

Janus knew it was a joke but it felt too soon.

Janus nodded. "Alright, so, what now?"

"Probably meet with the other's in the cafeteria. We'll exchange information."

"Alright. Let's start walking." Janus and Remus stood side by side, and walked to the cafeteria.

Janus and Remus were the last to show up.

"What kept you bro?" Roman sent a wink and a nudge toward his brother.

Janus felt his face engulf in red, but all Remus did was wink at Roman.

"I could say the same to you Ro, do you kiss and tell?"

Roman and Virgil, who was sitting next to Roman, both turned red and looked away from eachother.

Janus wasn't surprised. 

Logan stood up and cleared his throat.

"So now that everyone here let's retell everything we saw."

Everyone gathered up at one table and sat down next to the person they explored with. Logan looked around at everyone.

"Does anyone want to go first?"

"Well," Janus began. "Remus and I found normal medical stuff in the nurses office. Except..." He trailed off awkwardly.

"There was also deadly poison." Remus added casually, as if they were doing a school presentation and it was his turn to speak.

No one said anything about that.

"Well, it was just a regular sauna," Virgil piped up. "It was hot, steamy, and we got sweaty."

Remus smirked and almost started laughing, but Janus slapped his hand under the table and subtly glared at him.

Remus's smirk just grew and he grabbed Janus's hand.

. . . What?

Holy shit, Janus felt faint. Remus wasn't letting go, and Janus didn't want him to. Oh God's fucking heaven.

"The workout room had weights, yoga mats, small lockers on the sides, basic stuff." Remy shrugged.

"Did they have those cool workout ropes!" Roman asked.

"They're called battle ropes," Logan corrected. "They are usually just for twirling around and such."

Emile rolled his eyes but nodded. "Yeah, there was a pair of battle ropes in there."

"Anyway, that leaves us," Logan said. "There was a large swimming pool and a locker room. It has everyone's name on a locker and there is a pair of swim trunks in each."

"Is there any for..." Roman bit his lip.

"Yes. The two's locker are X-ed out, but there are swim trunks in there."

It was quiet again. Fucking, again.

"Alright, enough of this silence," Remus stood up. He looked annoyed.  
"I understand that it's horrible that two of our allies died, but if we keep acting like this all of us will end up like them! We'll have the time to mourn for the lost when we get out of here, but until then we have to live for them!"

Janus grabbed Remus's hand again. He felt confident now.

"You're right! We need to make sure no one else dies!" 

There were signs of agreement from everyone, and Logan stood up. 

"Then let's continue to live." He smiled and left outthe door.

Soon everyone left the room and tried to continue on with their day, however nobody could shake the fears out of their minds.

~

Janus woke up the next morning with a feeling of dread.

He couldn't forget that today they were getting the next motive, and as much as he wanted to trust another murder wouldn't happen, he couldn't shake that feeling of nervousness.

As much as he wanted to lie down and stare at the ceiling forever, he had to check on the others.

He was the last one to arrive. If he did that tomorrow would he be suspicious? Or would he be dead?

The room was still, everyone moving slow and quietly talking to one person.

Remus was talking with his brother, Roman looked nervous, so they're probably discussing what the motive could be.

Patton and Emile were drinking something out of mugs and looked calm enough to be talking about the weather, but both looked seldom.

Virgil and Remy said nothing to eachother, but seemed fine with the silence.

So with everyone else partnered up, Janus walked over to Logan.

He waved, Logan nodded at him. 

"Hello Janus." 

"Hey." He couldn't think of anything else to say.

"Do you have any ideas of what it might be?" Janus didn't have to ask him what 'it' was.

"No," Janus looked down nervously. "But remember what Remus said yesterday. We have to trust one another that no one else will die."

Logan stared at him for a moment, before giving a small smile. "You're very fond of Remus aren't you." It wasn't a question.

Janus bit his lip. "Yes. It's a horrible situation to meet someone so I can't focus on it."

Logan eyes soften from the serious look they usually had. He looked over Janus's shoulder. Janus turned his head to see what Logan was looking at. It was Patton.

"Janus, the heart wants what it wants, and sometimes what it wants is twisted."

Sweet fuck is there something in the water here?

"Attention Students!" The speakers turned on and Monokuma began talking. "Please report to the Gymnasium for your next motive! It's very special and I've been working on it for months!" 

So holding back the vomit he felt crawling up his throat, he and the others made their way to the gym.

Monokuma was waiting for them on the stage. There was a curtain drawn behind him and he had an excited look in his eyes.

"Thank you all for coming!"

"We don't want to be here bitch." Remy glared.

"Don't be mean!" Monokuma faked a tear. "I have a super fun motive for you! So without further ado I present!"

He pulled the curtains to the side to reveal a table with vials on them.

There were eight bottles, each filled with a pink liquid.

The bear stared at the students, waiting. "So whatcha think!"

"What is this?" Emile asked.

"Your motives duh! Now drink up!"

"You want us to drink that weird shit?" Remy raised an eyebrow.

Monokuma had a sinister smile. "You can drink them, or I'll kill everyone of you right now." 

Knowing he would actually kill them, all of them chose a random vial and drank it. It didn't taste bad to Janus, kinda like sticky strawberry milk.

They waited a minute for something to happen.

"What did we just drink?" Logan asked.

"Finally asking the right questions! You all basically played Russian Roulette with chemicals!"

"Chemicals!?" Patton started gagging.

"Not deadly! Three of you drank a special chemical I created! The other five drank milk with pink coloring, but don't worry because they all taste the same!"

"What does the chemical do?" Remus glared.

"Well, the lucky three of you who drank it will get a complete personality change! The chemical completely fucks with your mind to change your way of thinking!"

"But why?" Janus said.

"Because it might lead to murder! Sadly after the murder happens the effect will wear off on everyone except the killer!" Monokuma shouted in glee but then added. "Oh and an accomplice if one is involved."

"It will start to take affect in two hours! Have fun!!" Then he just left. Fucking bear.

"Oh god what do we do?" Patton started worrying.

"Well, the bear said three of us will go through a personality change in two hours. We should all meet up at the Dinning Hall then and try to figure out who has it, and keep a watch on all of them." Logan proposed.

"That sounds like our best option." Remus agreed.

Everyone nodded, and with that they all went their separate ways for now.

Janus went to the cafeteria two hours later, not feeling any different then usual. But what if that's a trick?

Janus being the slow human he is, was the last to get to the Dinning Hall. 

Remy rolled his eyes at him. "Thanks for arrive so quickly, it's not like anyone could die or anything."

Janus rubbed the back of his neck. "Sorry, I fell asleep."

Remy rolled his eyes and muttered, annoyed.

"So how do we find out who's been affected?" Emile asked.

"Well, anyone see anyone acting different?" Logan tried.

It was quiet for a moment. "Roman." Remus said.

Roman looked at him shocked. "Huh? Why me?"

"You're my brother, I know when you're acting off. You're too quiet and you seem depressed."

Roman didn't say anything at first. Then he shrugged and murmured. "I guess so."

Logan nodded. "Alright one down. Who else is it?"

We waited a minute. Then another minute. Then another. Soon five minutes passed and Logan got fed up.

"Alright, because this is going nowhere," He sighed and rubbed his forehead. "We all will just have to watch everyone for signs of the chemical and keep an eye on Roman." 

Nobody had any objections, so they made a plan. They would all go in partners and report if their partner started acting strange.

Remus chose to look after his brother, Patton clung to Logan's arm and asked if he could be his partner (Janus swore he saw Logan blush slightly). 

Remy shrugged and said he'll take Emile, so that left Janus and Virgil.

"Everyone must be with their partner at all times, except when you go to bed. But the first one to wake up will go to the other persons room to wake them up. If you see anyone without their partner run. Any questions?"

Nobody disagreed, so everyone left with their partner.

Janus thought it was kinda awkward with Virgil. What the fuck was he suppose to say? Luckily Virgil broke was the one who silence.

"You're in love with Remus right?"

" . . . Kinda heavy for our first real conversation." What else was he suppose to say?

"Sorry," Virgil did not look sorry. "But you look at him the same way I look at Roman. Even if he's an awkward and kinda emo guy now, I still love him."

"How do you know you're in love with him? All of us are just highschool seniors, just, we're young."

Virgil gave the slightly taller boy a small smile.

"I feel safe around him. Whenever he touches me I don't want him to let go. Not in a sexual way, but in a warm way. But the most important part is that he feels the same."

Janus felt all the same feelings around Remus. "How do you know he feels the same?"

Virgil laughed. "I wish I could say that I'm physic, but no. When we went to the sauna I told him how I feel around him. He told me he gets the same feelings around me. He kissed my cheek and told me when we get out of here we're going on a date."

His face was red and he had goofy smile on. He looked at Janus and his smile grew sly.

"I know you feel like that around Remus and I know he feels the same around you." 

Why should he still try and hide things from this intelligent gremlin?

"How did you know?"

The two entered the hall with all the rooms. Right before Virgil went into his room he winked at Janus.

"I'm physic."

~

The rest of the day passed in a blur. He told jokes and vented to Virgil. Virgil gushed like a school girl and talk about what he was going to do when he got out.

"Take Roman on a date, be more social, and make you my brother-in-law."

Janus laughed. "Explain all of those please."

"Well you know I'm head over heels in love with Roman. Before being kidnapped I had no friends and stayed at home study, just not living. But now I'm come to realize that anyone can die and time and if you don't live what did you do with your life?"

"You know, you're very poetic." Janus pointed out.

"Thanks, with no friends you would think and write too. Now then on the third thing I said, do you wanna here a secret?"

The third thing.... Remus liking him.

"Because you're not answering I'll tell you. Roman told me, like the first day we got here, that he could tell his brother had a thing for you."

"Remus told me the same thing about you and Roman."

Virgil smiled then stood up. He offered a hand to Janus, who took it, and started dragging him.

"Where are we going and how are you dragging me?"

"To find Remus so you can get your head out of your ass, and I do run sometimes."

"That's not necessary." Janus tried to reason with his friend.

Virgil looked at him, suddenly serious.

"Janus, we're in a killing game. Two of us have already died brutal, and we don't know who's next. We have to try and live while we still can breathe." 

Janus bit his lip and nodded.

"You're right. But, and no offense, when I talk to him I want us to be alone. It will probably be a very intimate moment that I want it to be just us two." 

Virgil nodded. "He's probably at the cafeteria, so we can go there and I'll take Roman to the other side of the room so you two can talk. Is that alright?"

Janus took a deep breath. "Lets do this both I try and drown myself in a toilet."

Virgil gave a 'yay' and they made their way to the Dinning Hall.

True to his word, Virgil took Roman to the other side of the room amd left Janus and Remus alone.

"Aren't they cute?" Remus laughed. 

"Yeah. It's like they're meant to be together." How was he suppose to do this?

"How do you think they realized they were in love, you know in a horrible place like this?" Remus looks him in the eye, and Janus tries to shoot his shot.

"They get this feeling around eachother," He looks over to the two. Virgil smiling at Roman who is quietly but happily talking with Virgil. "That the other person can keep you safe and warm, and you want all of them. You want their dreams, hopes, and problems and if they were to die, you would feel empty for the rest of your life."

Remus looked at him shocked, but regain some composure. "So you feel like, you want to spend every moment on earth, and even after death, with that person. Even in a horrible place like this," He grabbed both of Janus's hands and looked him in the eyes. "You only want that person."

Janus nodded. "You and I both know how that is right?"

"Attention Students it is now 10pm! Nighttime has officially begun!" 

That fucking bear. That son of a bitch. Janus didn't know what to do now. Oh god he must have fucked up somehow.

Remus suddenly bent down and kissed Janus's cheek.

Janus was shocked. Holy fuck.

"You and I will both be fine. I promise," He put his mouth next to Janus's ear. "I love you." He gave Janus a smile, and collected his brother from Virgil.

Virgil and Janus walked the halls alone, as they were probably the last to head toward the rooms.

"He loves me." Janus whispered, but loud enough for Virgil to hear.

"Told you so."

"He loves me."

Virgil snorted. "You already said that."

"I just don't know what to say."

"Then you don't have to say anything."

The two got to their rooms in comfortable silence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Have some not murder! But in the next chapter, blood will be spilled!


	6. Blood Spills like Oil

Janus woke up feeling alive and hopeful. He thought, everyone here is going to make it out alive, and I'm gonna to go on a date with Remus, be the man of honor at Virgil's wedding, and try to get Patton and Logan together because s of them were pinning messes.

With a newfound feeling of grace, he made his way over to Virgil's room.

As he was about to knock he was interrupted. 

"Don't bother. I knocked on there earlier and I heard my Virgil in there and he screamed." Remus wiggled his eyebrows. "Probably committing filthy sin with my brother." 

"Good morning to you too Remus." Janus felt confident for once in his life.

Remus laughed at him. Then he bowed and held out an arm to Janus.

"Do me the honor of being my escort?" He asked Janus with false seriousness.

Janus hooked his arm with Remus's with no hesitation. He stood close to the taller man without feeling shame.

"Wait, we're not suppose to go anywhere without our partners." Janus suddenly remembered.

Remus shrugged. "Maybe we can switch to be with eachother for partners." 

Janus nodded. "Sure, we'll let Logan know." 

They began to walk to the dining hall for breakfast arm in arm.

"So what were you doing up so early?" Janus starts a conversation.

"I'm just used to getting up early at 5:30 so I can use the bathroom before Roman."

Janus laughed. "How long does it take for him to use the bathroom?"

"Enough time for him to sing Michael in the Bathroom from Be More Chill ten times." Remus gave a haunted look.

"He's a theatre kid?" Janus wasn't shocked but still wanted to know.

"Both of us kinda are," Remus gave a sheepish look. "Roman loves the singing and acting, but I love the tech stuff. The costumes, the effects, all that lame stuff."

Janus playfully hit him. "That stuff isn't lame. It's the beautiful stuff that makes the show come alive."

Remus genuinely looked shocked but then gave a big smile. "Only you could make me feel happy about insignificant things."

Soon enough, the two reached the dining hall, still locked at the arms.

Though they weren't expecting to to see Logan and Patton trying to calm down a frantic Emile.

"He wouldn't open his room and when yelled and pounded he wouldn't answer! What if something happened?"

"What's going on?" Remus raised an eyebrow.

Logan looked at the two together and sighed.

"While apparently you two aren't with your partners-"

"It sounded like they were together, if you know what I mean." Remus interjected and wiggled his eyebrows.

Logan sighed and rubbed his hand against his forehead.

"Whatever. That's not the big issue. Remy isn't answering his door and Emile is becoming frantic."

Patton nodded. "I'm getting concerned too."

Logan held up a finger before calling out, "Monokuma!"

The bear popped up and bowed. "You called your majesty?"

"We need you to open Remys room now."

"Why? That's tooootally an invasion of his privacy."

Logan gritted his teeth. "Just do it!" 

"Fine, fine. I guess I just live to serve you." Monokuma went away to presumably open the door.

Everyone wasted no time before running towards the door. But they were all stopped by Virgil walking tiredly towards there direction.

Virgil stopped in shock. "What's going on? I woke up late and when I knocked on Janus's door he didn't answer. So I thought you went straight to-"

"Wait my brother wasn't with you?" Remus looked scared.

"No! I've been alone all morning! What's going on?"

"We need to see if Remys in his room. Now." Janus urgently explained, and then the group once more headed towards the dorms.

Luckily Remys room was open, and no corpses.

But no Remy either. 

"No one needs to panic," Logan kept his voice unwavering. "All of us should just search around to see if we can find Remy or Roman. Patton and I can take the Sauna, Emile and Remus can go the workout room, then Virgil and Janus can check the pool. Any objections?"

No one objected. Logan nodded and he and Patton took off, encouraging everyone else to do the same.

"Are you nervous?" Janus asked Virgil as they made their way to the pool.

"Obviously. But they're probably fine." 

"We can only hope."

They entered the pool. Janus prepared for the worse. Like two wet and blue in face bodies.

But no one, dead or alive, was in the pool. 

"I'll check the locker room." Virgil dashed to the small room.

Janus waited for his slightly shorter friend. 

While waiting, he noticed something. There was water on the outside of pool.

That must have meant someone used it recently, but when?

"No dead people!" Virgil announced with relief, suddenly looking very relaxed.

"Hey look!" Janus pointed at the water spot.

"Oh, it makes sense," Virgil said. "There were some used towels in the locker room. Someone must have gone swimming."

"Makes sense but when would they have time to do so?"

Virgil shrugged. "They probably went with their partner someti-"

Virgil was cut off by a shriek followed by a 'Holy shit!'.

They recognized Remus swears and both raced to the workout room.

~

*A body has been discovered!*

*A body has been discovered!*

~

Janus used to have hopes. He wanted to graduate high school with good grades, get accepted into California State, and start and a new life.

He wanted to make friends, experience life at it's fullest, and say he'll die young.

Of course, he got experienced all of that in a death game, just far too literally than he wanted.

The corpses of Remy and what had to be Roman greeted the two.

Remy was limp and unresponsive, just like a dead person. You could see his dead eyes open, because he wasn't wearing his sunglasses.

It had to be Roman who was hanging on the ceiling. Although his face was obscured by a brown tote bag.

But it had to be Roman because everyone else was already in the room.

No one could say anything. 

"Hey assholes!" Monokuma sounded cheery. "I got your Monokuma Files!" 

He passed them out to everyone.

*THE DEATH'S OF ROMAN PRINCE AND REMY DARICKSON*

*TIMES OF DEATH: LAST NIGHT BETWEEN THE HOURS OF 10 O'CLOCK AND 2 O'CLOCK* 

*CAUSES OF DEATHS: ROMAN [HANGING] REMY [UNDETERMINED]*

*ROOM(S) FOUND: WORKOUT ROOM*

"What did you to this?" Emile looked pissed. "We don't have an exact time of death or how Remy died!"

"Well it's no fun if I give you all the answer!" Monokuma said in a 'duh' voice.

"Well we can clearly see Remys cause of death." Logan apparently had started looking over Remy. Logan showed everyone Remy's neck.

It had rope burns on it.

"Strangulation." Logan told. 

"Oh! Before I go just a note!" Monokuma yelled. "Apparently now three people are still under the effect of the chemical!" 

"Why? You said after a murder took place it would wear off on everyone after the murder!" Emile started raising his voice.

"Hey don't blame me! Somehow one of you idiots must have spread it! After the class trial, I will register the two left infected with a Monokuma Brand Vaccine!"

"You sick fuck." Janus said through clenched teeth.

"Well anyway, I'm done, so I'll leave everything else to you idiots. Byeeeeee!" 

Remus was still staring at his brother. He, just like his brother, wasn't moving.

It was then Janus realized the room smelled like lavender. Why did he notice that now, there are two corpses in the room!

Logan gently put his hand on Remus's shoulder.

"Remus. I am very sorry but we need to examine Roman's body for any clues." 

Remus didn't look back as he spoke. "I'll do it. Alone." 

Logan bit his lip hesitantly, but nodded.

"You can start after we examine this room."

Remus stared at his brother, but nodded. He began to try and find a way to get Roman down gently.

Janus tried to swallow the bile he felt in his throat, and started to look around.

So it looked like it was a normal room, excluding the dead bodies of his friends.

He had to think. Remy had rope burns. And Roman had a noose around his neck.

Could it be that Remy and Roman had died with the same rope?

Janus looked around. He didn't see anything else of value to look at currently.

"Is everyone done looking around?" Remus harshly asked.

Logan nodded. "I think so. We will go and leave you to look at your brother." 

Everyone left. Janus was the last one to leave, as he hoped Remus would look at him.

Remus didn't. Janus knew he had to be alone, so he shut the door behind him.

~

Janus walked the halls. He had to think logically. 

If their bodies were found on the second floor, then the murder probably took place on the second floor, so Janus decided it would be best to stay there to search.

He had three places to look now. He decided to go to nurses office as he had been in there and might see if something was off.

Virgil was in the nurses office. He was just looking around, but in a way that he was just going through the motions.

It had to be hard for him and Remus, loosing someone they loved.

Janus didn't know what say, so he focused on looking around.

No poison or medicine missing, but it makes sense as everyone agreed both of the boys died from a rope.

While looking at the other side of the room he saw four lavender perfume bottles.

What?

When he and Remus looked around there Remus said there were five bottles.

So that means one must have gone missing, but why? And where would it go?

Jesus fuck Janus, your friends are dead stop thinking about perfume.

Quietly Janus left the room, not bothering his friend who seemed trapped in his own world.

Next Janus went to check the sauna. Emile and Patton were there. Patton was sobbing and Emile was trying to comfort him.

Emile saw Janus gave a small wave. 

"Hello Janus. We already searched this room and didn't find anything. We just had to sit down for a second." He subtly gestured to Patton who was forcing himself to turn the sobs into sniffles and wipe the tears from his eyes.

"We need to keep searching though," Patton stood up and brushed himself off. He turned to Janus with a serious look. "We need the find the traitor who did this."

Patton left with a solemn aura, who was followed by Emile. 

Janus felt a bit spoked by Patton, but understood how he felt and knew Patton was right.

There was a traitor among them, and the traitor would have to pay.

Clearing his thoughts, Janus left sauna. 

He wondered if he should check the pool, but he already checked there. But he still wondered why and how the water had gotten splashed around. 

Oh fuck it, he was going to check again. 

He made his way to the pool. When he got there, it was Logan investigating.

"Hey Logan, find anything?" Logan shot up startled.

Logan let out a sigh of relief when he saw it was Janus. "Oh hello Janus, you scared me. Anyway, nothing in here seems to be suspicious."

Janus raised an eyebrow. "What about the water splashed around the pool, meaning someone used it recently. Or if you looked in the locker room you use a used towel."

Logan waved his hand dismissively. "I don't see how they could connect to the murder. We found their bodies in the workout room. Anyway we can probably assume someone went for a midnight swim."

Janus sighed. "I guess you might be right," Janus glanced around for a moment trying to find something new, but he didn't. "Do you have anywhere else to check?"

Logan nodded. "I was thinking to check Roman's room. We found nothing in Remys while looking for him, but its possible Roman left a clue." 

Janus nodded. "I'll go there too. But..." Janus hesitated. "I just want to check the room one last time."

Logan looked confused, but nodded. "Alright then. I'm a fast searcher so you will probably not see me until the trial," Logan headed towards the door. "Good luck!"

Janus sighed in frustration. He felt like he had to find something else in the room.

He walked to the edge of the pool, as if the smell of the chlorine was pulling him in.

He keeled down to the edge and looked over the rim. He looked in the clear liquid.

There was a black blur in the pool.

What could it be? Janus was about to dive in before he remembered that he can't hold his breathe under water.

Shit.

"Hey Janus, what are you looking at?" Emile snuck up on him. 

Janus jumped at the sound briefly, before getting an idea.

"Hey Emile, you see that blur under the water?" Janus nodded it out.

"Huh, yeah. Maybe it's a clue." Emile suggested as Janus nodded. 

"That's what I think. I was going to get it, but I remembered that I can't breathe under water. So-"

"Yeah, I'll get it," Emile agreed. "I'm gonna to go change though, and maybe do some looking around, so is it alright if I meet up with at the trial to tell you what it is?"

Janus nodded. "That's fine. I need to check out Roman's room anyway. I'll talk to you later." Janus left for the door.

Emile called out a goodbye and Janus walked to the room of a dead person.

Roman's room was unlocked. Janus assumed Logan must have asked Monokuma to open it for the sake of investigating.

He cautiously open the door, as if Roman would be in there and yell at him for entering his room without permission.

Roman did no such thing.

The first thing Janus noticed was how much of a mess Roman's room was.

He then noticed Roman's room key on the ground. So doesthat mean Roman's room was always open?

Then he saw a purple bottle laying sideways on the ground.

The missing perfume bottle.

What the fuck? Why the fuck is this in Roman's room? Does he wear perfume? If so, why did he take an entire bottle?

Then Janus smelt something else. Chlorine.

He saw Roman's garbage can. It was stuff with wet paper towels that stunk with chlorine.

That must have meant that Roman had gone to the pool. 

But why? Janus doesn't understand any of it, and he has zero suspects. All he has are more questions and the urge to vomit.

"Attention Students!" No. No! Not yet! "It is now time for our second class trial! Please report to the same place as last time and remember! Attendance is mandatory!"

Janus was going to die.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope y'all enjoyed the murder and such. Who do you think did it?


	7. Your Friends Are Going To Hell

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a long ass chapter y'all enjoy

The remaining people slowly showed up to the elevator.

Logan and Patton were there before Janus, Logan looking to be thinking intensely, while Patton looked like he was going to vomit.

Neither of them acknowledged Janus, which made him more nervous.

He had no idea of what happened and who did it.

Virgil showed up. He looked depressed, and he kept his hands stuffed in the pocket of his hoodie. If Janus didn't know better, he would say Virgil looked almost... bored.

Remus came next. He stood tall and serious, contrasting his previous persona of a chill person.

He didn't look at anyone at all.

It took a few more minutes for Emile to show up. He came looking damp and tired.

"Did you get it?" Janus immediately asked him.

He nodded and opened his mouth to speak, but the elevator started abruptly, startling everyone.

It was moving down almost so violently, Janus felt even speaking might cause something to go wrong. 

After what felt like an eternity in hell, the elevator came to a stop. Everyone stumbled out right away, except for Virgil. 

Before anyone could check on him, the sound of vomiting was heard.

Virgil came out of the elevator with bleary eyes, and yet he laughed.

"Ah sorry! I get really motion sick!" Virgil waved it off with a tired shrug.

"Whatever! I'll clean it up during the trial."

"How will you be able to do that and watch the trial?" Logan questioned. 

"Don't worry 'bout it you noisy hoe!" The elevator slammed shut abruptly. "Now sit down before I kill you all for shits and giggles!" 

Everyone rushed to there seats. Janus noticed four empty seats and four pictures with X's slashed across their faces. 

By the time the trial is over, there would be five.

"Okay you little shits! Start the trial and find out who killed Remy and Roman, m'kay? Begin!" Monokuma fell silent.

"First we should figure out who in total-" Emile was interrupted by Logan. 

"Actually I think I've figured it out." 

"What!?" Janus exclaimed. "How??"

"After looking at the clues, I was able to put together the story."

"What happened?" Patton looked desperate as he asked.

"What I've put together is that Roman killed Remy, then killed himself."

"What the fuck are you talking about asshole!" Remus spoke for the first time in awhile.

"Let me explain. We all knew that Roman was under the influence of the chemical. He was showing signs of depression and not really caring about anything. Well, the night of the murder, he asked Remy to follow him to the Workout room, were he had stashed a noose.

"After getting Remy to the Workout room, Roman somehow surprised him and then strangled him. It's likely that Roman felt guilt for the murder, and hung himself."

"Wait, but how can you say that without filling in all the holes!?" Janus accused. Janus knew that stuff was being left out, but Logan wouldn't do that on purpose, right?

"There was a bottle of missing perfume from the nurses office, can you explain that?" Virgil sounded angry.

"I found it in Roman's room." Janus said. 

Logan nodded. "Yeah, I'm assuming Roman took it for himself."

"My brother never wore perfume. He was a strict 'Deodorant is the best way to cover up stink' person."

Logan shrugged. "Well, what other reason could explain the perfume be in his room?"

"What about the paper towels?" 

"They smelled like Chlorine, so he probably just cleaned up after using the pool."

"Why are you spewing bullshit every where?" Remus gritted his teeth.

"Are you lying to us?" Virgil seemed to be on team Remus.

"No! I'm just saying what I think happened." 

"Well you sound pretty Damn sure!"

"Guys!" Patton tried to yell over them. "We need to stop fighting!"

"Fighting might help us solve my brothers death!"

"Shut up!" Emile screeched, silencing everyone. 

Janus thought he might have been trying to talk early, but couldn't hear over the yelling match.

"Eariler Janus asked me to dive in the pool to try and find something he thought was a clue," Emile pulled something out of his pocket. "And he was right."

Emile put it down infront of him. Choline stung the air around the object. Everyone let out a noise of surprise.

"Remy's sunglasses." Patton said shocked. 

"So why? If the murder took place in the Workout room, then how did his sunglasses end up in the pool?" Janus queried.

"Maybe Roman tried to get rid of the evidence," Logan suggested. "It would explain the wet paper towels."

"Can we all think about this please!" Janus shouted. "We keep circling back to the smell of chlorine! That has to mean something to the case!"

"I think you're right." Remus said with a coolness around him.

"Huh?" Janus was honestly just guessing.

"Just look at the Monokuma File." Remus took out his Monokuma File, setting off everyone else to do the same.

*THE DEATH'S OF ROMAN PRINCE AND REMY DARICKSON*

*TIMES OF DEATH: LAST NIGHT BETWEEN THE HOURS OF 10 O'CLOCK AND 2 O'CLOCK* 

*CAUSES OF DEATHS: ROMAN [HANGING] REMY [UNDETERMINED]*

*ROOM(S) FOUND: WORKOUT ROOM*

"It says room found, not room murdered." Remus pointed out.

"But why drag Remy down three hallways just to make things more difficult?" Janus asked. Remus simply shrugged.

"It also says Roman's cause of death, but not Remy's, although you can easily see the rope burns on Remy's neck." Logan started thinking a loud. 

"So then the cause of death might have been drowning?" Patton offered.

"Wait, but how do we explain the rope burns on Remy?" Virgil asked.

"It's possible that Roman used the rope to try and fabricate the cause of death." Logan said.

"Dude, why do you keep targeting Roman?" Virgil asked in an annoyed tone.

"I'm sorry, but we don't have anymore suspects."

"I do." Virgil furrowed his eyebrows angrily.

"Oh, who?" Logan tilted his head to the side slightly.

"You!" Virgil pointed at him. Logan raised an eyebrow, but stayed calm.

"What evidence do you have?" 

"You keep saying the story as if you were there and you keep trying to shift the blame onto anyone except you!"

"Is that all?" Logan asked.

Virgil stayed quiet. Logan laughed. Janus never heard Logan laugh like that before. It sounded almost chilling and sinister. He eyes turned darker as his smile stayed small but noticeable.

"You have no proof of me anything. So it's best you drop it, you My Chemical Romance reject." 

"Logan, please don't say stuff like that. Your acting different." Patton practically begged.

Virgil put a finger to his chin. "Different. Wait, so does that mean that Logan might be infected by-"

"Yep," Logan let out a cold and sly chuckle. "You caught me fuckers."

"So you killed my brother?" Remus accused.

Logan let out a sigh and shook his finger. "Did you ever learn to listen in elementary school? I admitted to being under the effect of the chemical, but I never said I killed anyone."

"So you're innocent?" Virgil scoffed.

"Uh uh uh. I never said that either." Logan tsked.

"Can you just be honest?" Janus said, exasperated by this hold fucking thing.

"What's the fun in telling you assholes what I know?" 

"We can't focus on that right now!" Patton spoke up. "We need to finish this trial."

"Patton's right," Emile agreed. "So let's start by gathering all the information we know. First of all, who in total is affected by the chemical?"

"We knew that Roman was, and we just found out that Logan has it. We found out that one unknown person caught it from someone else, and one other person always had it but hid it." Janus laid out.

"It's possible that Logan might have caught it from someone too." Remus pointed out.

"Alright. We need two more people, then that might help narrow down out suspects."

"Ooooooooh!!!! I might know! Pick me, pick me!" Logan jumped up and down while waving his arms in the air.

"How do we know you won't lie to us?" Virgil glared.

"You don't. Buuuuttt you could always take my words into consideration!" Logan straightened his tie. "I'll even say it with my normal tone of voice!"

Logan cleared his throat and began. "As we have seen by experience, the chemical takes one major trait of the person and has them act the oppose of that. Roman became heavily depressed and my emotions are more expresses and violence. If you look around you'll see one person who's been very bipolar lately." 

He was silence for a moment. 

"Can't you tell us?" Virgil begged. He looked like he was about to cry.

"Like I said, I'm not going to tell you anything, but I'll confirm when you get it right," He looked down at his nails with a bored expression. "So think 'bout and guess you dumb fucks."

Janus thought back. Out of all of them, who seemed to be taking on a different emotion ever since the new motive?

Wait...

"Is it Virgil?" Janus hoped he was wrong. 

"What? Why the fuck do you say me?" Virgil looked pissed and confused.

Logan on the other hand, shouted out with glee.

"Ding ding ding! Yay, you're one of the intelligent ones!" Logan looked at Virgil. "If you're not convinced think back to your previous actions."

*Virgil showed up. He looked depressed, and he kept his hands stuffed in the pocket of his hoodie. If Janus didn't know better, he would say Virgil looked almost... bored.*

*Virgil came out of the elevator with bleary eyes, and yet he laughed.*

*"Ah sorry!" He laughed. "I get really motion sick!" Virgil waved it off with a tired shrug.*

*"No dead people!" Virgil announced with relief, suddenly looking very relaxed.*

"And that's just some of the examples!" Logan gave a bow.

Virgil silence for a moment suddenly he looked up. "Okay, then let's say I am infected. But why would I kill Roman?" 

Logan shrugged and laughed. "I never said you did, you Filthy Cum Dumpster."

Virgil gasped. "Fuh- Filthy Cuh-Cum Dump Dumpster! Why?!"

Logan smirked in a way that would make the Chester Cat shiver. "Everyone knows you banged Roman," He let out a cackle. "Seriously, you couldn't wait til after a death game to get laid! How much of a horny virgin were you!" 

"We never had sex, you Degenerated Fuckrag!"

"Oh is that right Slutbag?"

"Wait," Remus interrupted the insult exchange. "This morning I heard Virgil scream, so I assumed my brother was with him but that was at 5:30."

Janus's eyes widen. "But the Monokuma File said Roman was already dead by then."

"Virgil," Emile started cautiously. "What were you doing then?"

"Well, for your information, it's uh, personal."

"Virgil please!" Patton looked sad. "We want to help clear your innocence!"

Virgil hesitated for a moment. Then he pulled up his sleeves. Red slashes covered both arms.

Patton gasped. "Virgil, oh my-"

"Don't talk about okay?" Virgil's voice cracked. "I was doing better, I was clean for six months. But then the depressive episode hit hard. I panicked grabbed a knife early in the morning, then I just stared at it for hours. Then final I put the blade on my skin, and blood ran free."

His voice sounded dull, like the way his eyes looked.

"I can confirm, the wounds look fresh." Logan examined Virgil's arms carefully and silently. Janus almost thought it was the old Logan, the one that the all came to trust completely.

But the illusion was ruined by Logan bursting out laughing. 

"Omigod! If Remus thought you were getting fucked then your scream must have sounded like a moan!" He continued to talk through his laughter. "Do you have a knife kink? Or maybe a blood kink? Ahahaha!"

"Uhh, let's move on!" Janus thanked Emile in his head. Seriously, this shit was dragging on, and they were going nowhere.

"What about the time of death?" Patton raised.

"Yeah, it's different then last time." Remus agreed.

"Our very first Monokumas File stated the real time of death, but our Second one only gives us hours of the deaths. Could this mean something?" Emile stated.

Janus thought to himself. Why would Monokuma do that? Unless he couldn't tell them?

"Monokuma," Janus looked at the bear. "Did you do that to help the killer?"

Monokuma gave a ditzy smile. "Ooooooh, I don't know! Please, tell me why I would do that?"

"To confuzzle us, of course!" Logan shouted. 

"What do you mean?" Patton asked.

"Think about it," Logan tapped a finger to his temple mockingly. "If there were two murders, how come the times weren't specified? What purpose would that serve other than to confuse us? It seemed obvious that Roman had strangled Remy then hung himself, right? But what if that's not the case?"

"So you're saying my brother died, before Remy?"

"Duuuuhhh!"

"Wait," Patton looked at Logan. "If Roman died before Remy, then how did Remy get the rope burns on his neck?"

"Oh wait," Janus remembered something. "What about the Battle Ropes?"

"Those exercise things?" Virgil asked.

Janus nodded. "Those could have been used to help fabricate the look of strangulation."

"Because as we mentioned eariler, Remy might have been drowned." Logan brought up.

"Wait, Monokuma?" Remus said.

"What do you want?" 

"What do we do if there are two killers?" 

"Then, you vote twice, for each murder."

"Do you think there were two murders?"

"Think about it Janus," Remus began to explain. "If my brother died before Remy, then it's likely that he killed himself before Remy's murder even started. So I think the killer might have saw my brother and used his suicide to their advantage."

"That's why all the stuff is in your brothers room." Virgil realized. 

"It's makes sense," Janus also realized. "It explains the wet paper towels and the perfume. The killer was trying to cover up their tracks and blame Roman."

"Okay, okay, but we still need to figure out something ya Mouth Breathers," Logan clapped at them. "Who is the goddamn killer?" 

"It's obviously you," Virgil accused. "You're talking in riddles and trying to confuse us! You want us to doubt and turn on eachother so you can escape!"

"Oh am I?" Logan giggled.

"This is the kind of shit I'm talking about!"

"Please calm down!" Patton yelled. He gripped his hair and pulled down, while he was crying. 

"Patton, please stop, take deep breaths and collect yourself." Emile instructed.

Patton nodded, tears still rolled down his face, but he began to even his breathing.

"We need to calm down and think." Emile said firmly.

"We need to narrow it down to someone, and I think I know ho-" Remus was interrupted.

"I did it." 

Everyone stared at Logan, who just shrugged.

"I'm bored of playing this silly little game, just vote me and end my boredom please."

"Why would you just admit it?" Virgil looked more confused than before.

Logan rolled his eyes. "I literally just told you," He yawned. "Anywho, I'm ready to die."

Janus couldn't believe it. He did suspect Logan, but Janus didn't think he would simply give up. He must have some ulterior motive and hidden plan.

"I don't believe you." Janus spoke.

"Hmm? Why not? I just confessed to the heinous crime of drowning Remy and using the suicide of Roman to help me complete my plan, so," Logan glared at Janus. "Why. Not?"

"You have zero proof that you did it."

"Other than a confession? Want me to tell you how I did it? I lured Remy out of his room,-"

"How?!" 

Logan held a finger to his lips. "Let me finish the story. Anyway, I got Remy to go to the pool with me, then I drowned him. I carried his body to the Workout room and saw Roman hanging from the ceiling, and got an idea. I dried off Remy and used the perfume to get rid the chlorine. Then I used the battle ropes to falsify strangulation and make seem Remy was strangled with the noose. After cleaning up the water, I stashed the remaining evidence in Roman's room. Any questions?"

"That sounds like a lot of work," Remus pointed out. "How did you do it all?"

"Careful planning. Of course, it seems not enough planning." 

"When did you start and finish the murder plan?" Janus needed to pull something out of his ass fast.

"I began at 10:30 and went back to my room at 2:30."

"Hey Monokuma? How much did Remy weigh?" Remus asked.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Logan asked with a sigh.

"Can you just answer the question?"

"Of course! I know everything about you guys! Remy weighted 128 pounds, and was 5'4!"

"Okay, and what about Logan?" 

"He's a thin stick at 5'7 and 119 pounds!"

"You know," Logan looked at Monokuma then Remus. "It's rude to tell reveal people's weights."

"Why did you ask that?" Patton tilted his head slightly.

"If you think about it. Logan couldn't have done anything alone. How could Logan drag a corpse down three hallways quickly enough to do everything he said within the time limit? After all, Remy weighted more than Logan."

"Ya know, things get slippery when wet. I was able slide Remy, kinda like a weird water park."

"But the dead weight. You would have had to pick him up sometime, but you would have had trouble doing it alone." Janus was understanding now.

Emile made a sound of realisation. "Ohhh. Logan must have had an accomplice. But who?"

"Wouldn't it have to be Virgil?" Patton asked nervously. "He's the only other one we know that was infected, and I don't think a not infected person would help."

"Why would I help that Asshat? He's been a bitch to me this whole goddamn trial!"

"It's possible it's an act?" Emile suggested, although looking very unsure.

"Or maybe it's one of us four." Remus stated. 

Janus nodded. "Yeah. It's likely that the unidentified chemical person is the accomplice we're looking for."

"Maybe Logan could tell us?" Patton looked over at Logan with a small smile.

"Nope! No more help from me, you just gotta do it yourselves!"

"Logan please!" Patton begged harshly.

"Fine. I'll tell ya who but only cause I'm a simp. But I'll whisper it to Patton and he'll tell the rest of you." Logan hopped off of his podium and skipped over to Patton.

He silently whispered something that only Patton could hear, then made his way back to his spot. Patton paled.

"There you go, you royal pains in the ass!"

"What did he say?" Emile asked Patton with desperation in his voice.

Patton hesitated. "Well... He told me that..." Patton trailed off.

"Patton!" Janus looked at him. "Our lives are on the line, so please tell us!" 

"He said it was you Janus!" 

What? That's bull, Janus would remember if he helped kill someone. So why did Logan lie?

"No, that's wrong!" Janus called out.

"I'm sorry! That's just what he told me!" 

"I don't see it." Thanks Remus, for staying on Janus's side. 

"Yeah, the others all showed some sign of acting differently, but Janus is acting the same." Emile agreed.

"Thanks you two. But why would Logan lie?" 

Logan grinned. His face was dark and full of despair, yet the despair seemed to fill Logan with a sadistic glee.

"I never lied."

"What do you mean? You must have!"

"Think about it you BrainDead Emo. I did lie. Look no fingers crossed!" Logan held out his hands infront of him.

"If you didn't lie, than that means Patton must have." Emile gasped.

"Wuh-What! I I ha-have no reason to lu-lie!" Patton started sobbing into his hands.

Logan was silent. His face gave nothing away.

"You might lie, if you were the accomplice." Virgil pointed out.

"No! I I would never buh- betray my fruh- friends! I'm not the, not the ac- accomplice."

"It is a possibility." Remus agreed.

"I juh- juh- just told you- you!" His sobs grew louder and more pathetic sounding. "I am not the accomplice!"

"You're not." Janus finally got it. He understood the dynamic now.

"You're the killer." 

"What!" Patton screeched. His face was red and the tears had stopped. He was fanning his face.

"What's you're evidence! How do you know that I'm infected huh? You have no right to bully me so much without proof!"

"It's your outburst!" Remus declared. "You were accused last time as well, yet you did yell like this."

"Also, as Logan's partner, you would easily be able to make him your helper!" Virgil yelled.

"We know it's you, so please just admit it!"

Patton grew silent. Then he started crying.

"Oh my. Oh my oh my." He started repeating.

The crying somehow turned into laughing crying, almost like the emoji. But Patton looked very amused.

"You were right Logie! I got sick of playing games!" Patton giggled.

"So you admit it?" 

Patton smiled at Janus. Then he sighed. 

"Yes. You people are awfully slow. What happened was-"

"Shut up for a moment!" Monokuma interrupted. "It's voting time! First select who you think killed Roman!"

Janus slid the level onto Roman's X-ed out picture and selected it.

Not much time passed before the casino slot machine showed a picture of Roman, and the words GUILTY showed up.

"Correcto! Now who killed Remy? Will you get it right, or dreadfully wrong?"

The level once again gave Janus the option of selection.

Janus moved it to Patton's face and hesitated. He wasn't as sure as he was about the first case. Did he want vote out Patton? 

Then realised, he had no choice. It was Patton or them. One life or five. So with that, he hit select.

After the time seemingly slowed down. He didn't dare make noise until the results were announced. If he was religious, he would have prayed for the lesser of the two evils to happen.

Soon the slot machine turned on again. It rolled over the pictures of all of them quickly, then it turned almost too slow to bare. 

Finally it stopped on Patton's smiling face.

GUILTY

"Wow two out of two! But it wasn't unanimous, because Logan voted for himself!"

Logan shrugged. "I made a deal."

"Why?" Emile looked betrayed.

Patton giggled. "It's simple. I couldn't stand being here anymore. Do you all know what the chemical did to me? It made gave me the craving of despair, and honestly," He grinned at everyone. "I love it."

"Why did you use Logan?" Remus crossed his arms. 

"Actually he came to me. He recognized the symptoms of the chemical I had and revealed himself as also infected. I was able to notice his feelings toward me and used it to my advantage. I told him how desperately I longed to get out and how I would do anything to achieve that."

"So I helped him devise a plan." Logan spoke up.

"Yep. We decided that Remy would be the easiest target, so I lured him out of his room." 

*KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK*

*"Patton? What's up?" Remy opened the door cautiously. He was wearing those dumbass sunglasses.*

*Patton started crying. The tears were fake, of course. But Remy didn't know that.*

*"Thank God you answered!" Patton let out a sigh of relief.*

*"What happened? Also you shouldn't be out without your partner!" Remy still didn't open the door fully. Of course he had some sense.*

*"That's what I'm here about! I thought I heard something while I was in my room, so I went to Logan's room but it was open and Logan wasn't there!" This plan better work.* 

*"Damn, do you think he's okay?" The door opened fully now. Perfect.*

*"I don't know! I want to look for him, but I'm scared to do it alone, you know, just incase..."*

*Remy stepped out of his room and locked the door. *

*"I'll help you look. Any idea where?"*

*"Maybe the pool room? Logan seemed interested in it so maybe he left to check it out." *

*"Okay then let's go. But maybe we should get the others, or at least I should get Emile."*

*"No, if he's okay then I would be embarrassed to have made such a big deal out of it." Patton gave a short breathy laugh. He couldn't let Remy get anyone else.*

*"I understand, but we have partners for a reason." Remy was beginning to sound nervous. Not good.*

*"I know, but if Logan is- well you know- anyone could be a suspect," Patton grabbed Remy's hands in his own. "Remy please. I am begging you to help me. I put my full trust in you!"*

*Remy took a breath a nodded. "Lead the way."*

*Patton smiled.*

*The pool room was empty. *

*"I don't see anyone in here." Remy stated the obvious.*

*"Can you go glance at the locker room?" Patton asked. Remy nodded and ran into the small room.*

*Alone, Patton positioned himself at the edge of the pool. It was almost time and he could barely contain his excitement!*

*"Nothing there." Remy said.*

*"Well there might be something in here, come look!"*

*Remy kneeled next to Patton and looked down. He squinted at the water that actually contained nothing. *

*"I don't see anything." *

*Patton silently stood up.*

*"Look a little closer and you'll see it."*

*So Remy did. Then the time was perfect.*

*Patton lunged forward, one hand on Remy's neck, the other places firmly on his back. *

*Before he knew it, Remy's head was already under water, and he could see bubbles and hear Remy's attempted screaming.*

*His arms splashed in the water as he struggled to get out of the pool.*

*"Shhhhh," Patton didn't know if Remy could hear him but continued anyway. "You know, I'm scared. It's my first time after all."*

*Remy was still struggling and trying to scream, but it was starting to fade.*

*"I'm sorry I'm doing this but you understand right? It's insane here!"*

*This screaming had ceased and the struggling turned very feeble.*

*"Just close your eyes and be lucky I found you, after all, no more suffering! It's easy to do, just be glad it will be over in a few more seconds!"*

*Remy stopped moving. Finally. Just to be safe, Patton counted all the way to a hundred before lifting him out of the water.*

*For the first time ever, Patton saw Remy without the sunglasses. He also saw his eyes. *

*They were brown, dull, and dead looking. Patton did the nice thing a closed them. Remy looked like he was sleeping.*

*How lovely.*

*"So you completed it?" Patton would have jumped if he didn't recognize Logan's voice.*

*"Of course Logie! Did you ever doubt me?"*

*"I would never." Logan kneeled next to them.*

*"Ready to take it to the Workout room?"*

*Logan quickly ran into the locker room and came back with a pool towel.*

*Patton smiled. He gave Logan a quick peck on the lips.*

*"I'll grab his arms."*

*They tracked water. It would be fine, as Logan took a roll of paper towels from the kitchen.*

*Logan opened the door and flicked on the light switch.*

*A body was hanging. They were slightly swinging so they must have died a few minutes ago. There was a tote bag over their head. Almost like they were ashamed up until the moment they died. Patton thought it was ptiful.*

*He heard Logan gasp in shock.*

*"Who do think it is?"*

*"I don't know, but we can use them to our advantage."*

*"How?"*

*Patton pointed to the battle ropes. "That's how Logie!"*

*Logan nodded and the two dragged Remy towards the ropes.*

*Logan took the ropes and tangled them around Remy's neck.*

*As he was doing that, Patton looked around the room and found something. *

*A room key, with Roman's name on it.*

*"It's Roman."*

*"I see." Logan must have finished the strangling, because he was looking over Patton's shoulder.*

*"Then we can stash the paper towels in his room, along with this." Logan took out a bottle of perfume.*

*It was then when it occurred to Patton that everything stunk of chlorine.*

*"Ah good idea! Let's continue with the plan, then stash everything in Roman's room."*

*So after drying Remy, Patton sprayed the room and hallways with the perfume.*

*Logan wiped up the halls and the floor of the Workout room. But he forgot to wipe the edges of the pool.*

*After that, they left Roman's room unlocked and hid the evidence in there.*

*With that done, they left to their respective dorms.*

*Logan felt loved. If his beloved could escape then he would gladly die.*

*Patton felt-*

"Despair!" Patton yelled out with glee. "The way I felt it after killing Remy, and how you guys finally suspected me! The sensation is basically erotic!"

"You're sick." Janus said shocked.

Patton shrugged. "Aren't we all?"

Logan caught Patton's eye, who smiled at him. "Oh Logie! Thank you so much for helping me get this despair! I couldn't have done it without you! The feeling is basically orgasmic!" 

Patton leaped up and kissed Logan. "Just so you know, I had my eye on you ever since we ended up in this place. But as soon as we became all Lord of the Flies, I realised our love can only be in our own insanity."

Logan grimaced. "Well, I know how Hamlet felt about Ophelia."

After a few seconds Patton walked back to his podium and looked at Monokuma.

"Can you get the punishment going please? I'm ready to feel the last of my chemical induced despair."

"Alrighty then! It's punishment time!!"

The large chain the took Thomas last time came again, and dragged a smiling Patton to his death.

Patton standing on the edge of a tank full of water. A Monokuma wrapped a straight jacket on him, before pushing him in.

With a smile on his face, Patton started to sink the the bottom and drown.

He face was blue and the bubbles were getting fewer by the second, before the Monokuma from before came back.

The Monokuma pulled out a chainsaw and dove into the water.

First he cut the straight jacket off of Patton, who now looked confused.

Then the chain yanked him up to the top. 

A Lifeguard Monokuma appeared. He began to do chest compressions on Patton, who tried to struggle away. 

The previous Monokuma handed the chainsaw over to the Lifeguard.

Then the chainsaw turned on, and then Patton was headless.

Janus faintly heard Logan scream on the background, but he couldn't look away.

The Lifeguard then shrugged, and kicked the head and body into the water.

It looked like a watercolor paint, the way the red watered down.

After they sunk down to the bottom, a curtain closed around the tank.

It was quiet, except for Logan's screams.

"What did everyone think? It's some of my best work in my humbled opinion!"

"You're fucking sick." Virgil looked green.

"Actually its you two who are sick!" Monokuma gestured to Virgil and Logan. "I'm going to give you two the antidote so you can be boring and normal! Oh nurses!!!"

Suddenly four Nurse Monokumas appeared, two each holding onto a stretcher.

Logan and Virgil were forced onto the stretchers and promptly carried away.

"You guys can visit them in the nurses office tomorrow morning! Now take the rest of the day off, you all deserve it after all!" 

The elevator door opened and Monokuma was gone. 

The remaining three stepped into the elevator. It was much smoother leaving then come in, but only on the elevator. 

Janus only had one thought. When they got out of here, if any of them did, each of them were going to burn in hell.


	8. Freedom Is Sadistic

Janus didn't want to move, or get up, or breathe. Half of them were dead, and soon maybe the others would join them.

Nico, who had a plan to kill someone to prevent his secret from being revealed. It could have been avoided.

Thomas. He had killed because he was about to be killed over a secret. If he played his moves better, he could have lived.

Roman, who got fucked up by a chemical. If he had picked up a different drink, he might still be alive.

Remy. Drowned because he was too weak. If he never answered his door, or refused to go with his killer, he would be breathing air currently.

Patton, who got completely fucked over by his accomplice, in a way. His love-struck accomplice, who helped Patton die. He was hopeful of his death, but he could still be alive.

It all seemed like a gamble, where everyone got screwed over and had to hand over all of their chips.

Or maybe it was inevitable. Blood was bound to be spilled, right? No one could live here peacefully, so you had to kill eachother to leave right?

Maybe Janus could be the first to succeed. Instead of a Heart, Club, Ace, or Spades, he could pull out a joker.

*KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK*

Huh? Isn't that what Remy heard before dying? Maybe it was finally his turn.

"Janus?" Emile called out from the other side of the door. He spoke gently, the way you would talk to a mentally unstable person. But Janus wasn't unstable!

Janus hopped out of his bed a opened the door. He wondered if Remy made the same movements?

"Yeah?" 

Emile tugged on his sleeve awkwardly. "Uhm, it's morning so the three of us can visit Logan and Virgil in the nurses office. But Remus wants us to discuss something first."

Janus nodded and exited his room. He, just like Remy, locked his door.

Janus and Emile arrived to the cafeteria to find Remus talking to Monokuma.

Remus noticed them come in and glared at the bear. 

"Tell them what you told me."

"H- Hey! You don't need to get so demanding! Your eyes look so cold and fierce!"

"Stop stalling." Remus didn't seem assumed.

"Fine, Mr. Bossy," He turned to the other two. "Okay, so basically, part of the treatment for getting rid of the chemical is forgetting everything that happened during the time infect."

Emile gasped. "So they won't remember the murder, or anything!"

"Nope! The last thing they should remember is a few minutes after drinking the chemical, everything after that, is just gone!"

Well, Janus didn't know what to say. This had all just made him numb.

"If that's all, then leave." 

"Damn Remus, you really should be nicer to people!" With that, Monokuma left the room.

Remus looked at the two, his gaze lingering on Janus longer than necessary.

"What should do?" Emile asked nervously.

"I don't think we should tell them the whole truth."

"Why not?" Emile questioned.

"Well, Logan helped with a murder and Virgil was just fucked up. We should tell them the three are dead, and that they were under the influence of the chemical. But that's it."

"But they deserve to know what happened. They're also a part of this!" Emile agrued.

"But why trouble them over memories they are unlikely to ever get back?"

"Because all of us need to stay on the same page!"

"Remus is right." Janus said quietly. Honestly, Janus felt slightly jealous.

"Why?"

"If you could forgot some of this, even one death, wouldn't you take that? If you could erase even some of the pain, wouldn't you?"

Emile bit down on his lip. He let out a sigh.

"Alright, I don't agree with it, but I'll do it. They won't know."

"What?" Logan asked. Virgil looked like he was about to vomit.

"They're dead? Three of us are dead?" 

The two were sitting up on the cots in the nurses office, both wearing those cliche hospital gowns. 

Remus nodded. "Yes, Patton killed Remy, and my brother hung himself. You two were acting off, but causing no trouble."

Logan looked down. Janus wondered why he was sad, if anything, he should be pissed. The man he became oh so dearly fond of murdered someone in cold blood. 

"Where are our clothes?" He murmured. 

Emile looked in a small closet at the back of the room, and found two pairs of freshly washed clothes.

He picked them up and handed them their respective clothes.

Logan dug through the pockets of his pants and pulled out a small book with a tawny brown color.

Almost desperately, he flipped through the pages, before stopping somewhere in the middle and letting out a frustrated growl.

"Who messed with my journal?"

"That would be a moi!!!" Monokuma appeared, holding torn pages of paper.

"Give those back!" Logan demanded.

"Sure, just gimme a sec!" Monokuma pulled out a lighter and a pick of cigarettes.

"Don't-" 

Logan stopped talking when the flames reached the ripped papers. He then took out a ciggeratte and lit it. Then he threw the ashy papers in a sink and turned on the faucet.

"Okay, they're all yours!" 

Logan increase his grip on the small journal and looked at Monokuma nervously.

"Relax! I only wanted enough paper for one cigarette! Anyway I came here to let you all know the very next motive will be revealed tomorrow, and hot damn is it a good one!"

"Can't you stop it already?" Virgil he scowled.

"Stop what?"

"All of this!" He yelled and stood up. "Does it get you hot killing teenagers? Or are you a bored sadist who kidnapped us randomly for shits and giggles?"

Monokumas expression turned dark. "Everything has a reason."

Then he was gone.

They all left the nurses office after the two changed back into their clothes.

They were walking in heavy silence when the monitor turned on.

"Attention Students! I would tell you this in person, but I'm super duper busy! Anywho, I'm here to tell y'all that some new rooms have opened up! The Art room, history room, darkroom, and photography room! The last two go together, ya know like a combo! Anywho, it's on the third floor, so go explore. Don't forget, tomorrow you get your next motive and Damn is it good!"

The monitor turned off. 

"Lets go." Remus started walking to the staircase.

"Alone?" Virgil asked skeptically.

Remus shrugged. "We have no reason for murder yet. All of us should okay." 

Everyone decided the was true, and began walking there as well.

As he was walking to the hallway, Janus thought that might not be true. The urge to escape might be too much for one of them to handle, and the could kill any minute.

Janus had trust in all of them, but he was loosing faith in himself.

The art room was cold. That was the first thing he noticed. 

Then he noticed all the blank canvases, and the many types of paint.

Virgil was in here, looking disgusted.

"I hate painting. It's too messy." He explained after seeing Janus's confused face.

"Maybe you might like it if you try it." Janus suggested.

". . . Maybe. I guess I could try something new, and I do like sketching."

Janus gave a small smile and walked around the room. There was a small closet, with not too much space taken up. Janus first thought about how one could hide large things in there, if one needed to.

After scanning the large tables and art supplies he moved onto the next room.

The history room was kinda nice. Well, if you don't mind bloody pictures and real weapons someone could break glass to get to. The glass was the only keeping the things from being usable. Janus saw a knife, sword, spear, gun and baseball bat. 

The last reminded of Nico and Thomas. He was disturbed by it, more feeling numb.

Logan was there, looking at the photos.

"What do you think?" He asked, startling Logan.

"Oh hello Janus. I think I found something interesting. If you look at these photos you see some common grounds."

He passed Janus three photos. 

The first photo was a girl slumped against a door, seemingly a bathroom one consider the brief showing of a shower, a knife was in her stomache and blood was splattered around.

The second photo showed a man this time. He was laying face down under a table, blood pouring out from underneath him.

The final photo showed a person in a gym area. Their head was bashed in and they were suspended in the air.

What did all these pictures have in common.

. . . Wait, what? Oh god!

"All these backgrounds, they're in the school."

Logan nodded. "Yes. The first is in a dorm. The second one is the cafeteria, and the third is-"

"The workout room." Janus finished for him.

Logan nodded. "Yes. These photos are making me think that . . . There might have been more killing games before us."

"Holy shit." Janus said softly. Honestly, he was so fucking tired.

"But why not report any of this? Think about it, why not report a killing game?"

Janus thought about it, what he thought made him sick. "No one survived, or the person who made it out DID, kill someone."

Logan nodded. "That's what I'm thinking."

Janus nodded, and promptly raced out of the history room. He felt if he stayed there any longer he would vomit.

Next was the darkroom, which luckily for him, was not currently developing any photos.

Emile stood in the room. Looking around. Janus shivered at the air temperature and began to search the red lit room. 

"I don't like this feeling," Emile muttered. "It gives me a bad aura."

Janus agreed. The clothing pins and water pans gave him an off feeling.

In the corner there was a desk with a leather chair. Maybe for checking out the newly developed photos?

Janus quietly left the room, having checked everything of interesting.

The photography room was quiet, and had nice photos hung all around. Pictures of animals and happy groups of people stared at him as entered.

*Flash*

Janus stumbled backward in shock, and a hand grabbed his wrist to help steady him.

"Sorry." Remus said with a small apologetic laugh. 

"Maybe warn me next time." Janus began rapidly blinking in an attempt to gain to his clear sight back.

"Sorry, but I found some camera's and wanted to test them out."

He photo came out in a dark square. 

"I guess I develop this later."

"Why? It's gonna look like shit."

Remus shook his head. "I don't think so."

Remus put the camera down on a desk where two other cameras sat, and left the room with the photo in his pocket.

Janus watched him leave the room. He felt that Remus was acting fine, but ever since his brothers death, he was more . . . fake.

Janus glanced over the room once more, before taking his leave.

At one, Remus showed him a photo of a dizzy Janus. 

"Why did you develop that?" Janus groaned, which made Remus chuckled.

"Because I could and was bored. Wanna take a walk and try to cure my boredom?" 

Janus gave a small laugh and nodded. The two began going throughout the halls. 

The way their shoes were clacking against the floor was familiar to Janus, and he hated that. Why should he have to get used to staying in this school? 

"What will you do when you get out of here?"

"Huh?" Janus must have dazed out, and only heard that.

"What? Do you think you won't make it?"

"No. Do you?"

"Duh, Shortbus, you're one of the smarties here."

"I thought we moved passed the name calling Tallass?"

Remus wrapped an arm around Janus's shoulders.

"Seriously though, I will bet my life that you'll live here with yours."

Somehow the two had ended up in the history room. They were alone.

"Should you be saying things like that?"

Janus was standing near the knife display. He could break it.

"Whatcha mean?" Remus didn't sound nervous or anything. That's a lot of trust.

No one saw the two talking to eachother. No one caught them in any of the halls. 

"Someone will kill next. What if I'm the next victim?"

Or the next blackened. Remus stabbed body would be found in that giant closet in the art room and the glass would be cleaned up. Maybe he could frame one of the others.

"I'll stay by your side every second if you're that nervous." Oh what a wonderful offer.

He could easily frame Logan. Emile knows what happened last time and they could tell Virgil.

"You wish."

He could. He could he could he could he could he-

"Only a little." Remus grabbed both of Janus's hands. "I'll make sure nothing happens to you."

Janus's hands were trapped now, so he couldn't break anything. Did he want to?

"Alright, I'll believe you." 

Remus smiled and let go of Janus's hands. He ruffled Janus's long hair.

"Thanks. Anyway, thanks for keeping me entertained for a while. See ya." Remus left the room that could have welcomed him to his death.

Janus stayed in there for a moment. He wasn't sure if the room was actually cold, or if that was just him.

He walked over to the baseball bat one and gently ran a hand over it.

"One day. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but one day I'll snap."

Janus strolled out of the history room and headed back to his own. He was feeling tired.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Watch as our protagonist spirals into insanity. What do you think will happen? Who will die next and what will the next motive be?


	9. Raise Your Hand If It's You!

The next Janus woke up tired. He wasn't really hungry, but decided to see his living allies anyway. Why did he think living? It's not like he can see ghosts. 

If he could see ghost, what would they say to him?

Would Nico be screaming? Screaming because he was in pain, and the reason the death game was set in motion.

Thomas would be repeating, "I'm sorry." Over and over again until it lost meaning a became hallow.

Would Roman still be depressed? If so, he might be happy he killed himself before everyone began to completely lose their sanity. But if he was in his before state of mind, he might say,"What the fuck? Why am I dead?"

Remy would feel regret. "If only I was tougher and refused to go with him, I wound still be breathing air instead of the pool water." He would tell Janus dramatically depressed.

Normal Patton would be crying. Janus wound hear his weeping blend in with the wind. His insane self might say, "I'm finally happy! You should try being dead too!" 

He wishes he could try it too. It might be fun. After all, his mom would say 'Don't knock it til you try it'.

Janus got out of bed with a new hope. Maybe he would listen to mom.

The other four were already in the Cafeteria when he arrived. Everyone was giving of an aura of despair, as everyone knew the new motive would be revealed very soon.

(Janus could almost hearing Thomas sobbing at this. "Not again!" He cried.)

But Janus wasn't nervous. If he were to be honest with himself, he didn't care.

He walked into the kitchen without greeting anyone, and put on a pot of coffee.

He came out with two cups of pure black coffee. No, he would not share these with anyone.

("Is that really healthy?" Patton's concerned spirit would say.)

Logan saw the two steaming cups and raised an eyebrow.

"Tough morning?"

"Tough life." Janus gave him an empty stare, before downing half a cup in one gulp.

Emile grabbed his shoulder. Janus noticed a look of concern as Emile bit his lip.

"Janus I-" He was interrupted by the monitor turning on.

Janus brought a cup to his lips, a small smile formed. For once he was gratefully for the genocidal bear, even though he knew Emile would find him later.

"Attention Assholes! Come to the gymnasium for the best motive yet!" 

("I don't think anything is better than my death." Remy rolled his eyes sarcastically. Janus could almost smell the chlorine on his breath. Wait, do ghost have breath??)

That was all said before the monitor switched off. 

Wordlessly, Janus grabbed the cup that wasn't empty yet, and was the first one to walk out the door. He didn't look back to see if he was being followed, as he truly didn't care.

Janus was the first to enter the gym. Everyone else entered right after him. He knew they were following him, as he heard their footsteps.

Monokuma was waiting for them with a thick file in hand. "Woohoo! Everyone came, and in a new record too!"

"Just tell us the motive." Logan demanded.

"It's right here, you cold hearted nerd!" Monokuma threw the file at Logan, who caught it with little grace.

The beign file had the words 'MOTIVE' stamped on in red.

Logan carefully opened it and dumped out a bunch of paper onto the ground.

"Careful with that!" Monokuma snapped.

But everyone saw the photo's that landed on the ground. It was photo's of them, before the killing game.

A piece of paper landed in the middle of the pile, titled, 'The Masterminds Plan'.

They cleaned up the pile and ran back to the cafeteria. They layed everything down so everything was showing at once.

Janus caught photos of everyone. He saw Nico with what looked like his family at a restaurant. Thomas was taking a bow on a stage, surrounded with roses. Roman giving a piece sign to what looked like an Instagram photo, and Remus was annoyed but next to his brother. Patton was in a kitchen, sweeping a floor.

Janus saw them all. They looked innocent. But most of the photos were taken from a distance, and that made it creepy.

"Guys listen to this," Remus was reading the note out loud. "As the Mastermind of the killing games, I have decided to make one final game. I will collect data on every student in my grade and find ones that don't know about the other participates existences. I too, will take part in this game. If they kill me, then I will free everyone from the school. But as long as I'm living, the game will continue.

"As a participant, I will act mad and horrified at my little game, and I know that I will not fail. I also must befriend at least one of the other participants in the game, and earn their trust. The despair it fills me with is amazing! I truly hope I come to appreciate them, so the finale will be absolutely devastating to us all! I can already imagine the insanity and despair I'll bring them, it's getting me off already! I look forward to my game!"

The room was silent. Janus understood completely. If that note was true, then one of them had to be the Mastermind. It was a motive to help everyone. But if wrong, then it could crush everyone. 

"We can't believe that. It's just a ploy to make everyone distrust eachother." Logan shattered the silence with his claim.

"But if it's true..." Virgil trailed off.

"But it might not be." Emile fiddled his fingers.

"It has to be, otherwise it's not a motive." Janus spoke up. "If there was no chance of it being true, then they couldn't crush our hopes as well."

"Monokuma," Remus turned to the silent bear. "Are you being controlled?"

"Why would I tell you fucker?! Maybe I am, or maybe the power of friendship and magic brought me to life!" He shouted, before popping away.

"Rude, but doesn't help." Janus said.

"Hey guys, what about those blank photos?" Emile pointed out.

"It looks like they need to be developed, but only three at a time because of the limited amount of equipment." Logan examined them. "I can do it. I was in the photography club in school."

It was weird to think that Janus might have passed Logan roaming the halls with a camera.

"Great. After they're developed tell us results." Virgil ordered. Logan nodded, and scooped up the six blank photos.

Janus looked over the photos. Emile sorted them into piles, where everyone, except for Roman and Remus, had their own.

Janus looked in his pile. He saw himself in his bedroom, at his computer. What the fuck. How long were they being stalked, and examined? How did nothing of them realise they attended the same school? Who's the sick fucked doing this?

Janus assumed they were kidnapped by the government or some shit, but someone his own age? 

Now, he had to suspect his remaining allies. Who here was the Mastermind? Logan? Virgil? Emile? It hurt him a little to think it might have been Remus.

Maybe it was himself. What if he had a homoicidal split personality? It could be possible, but Janus doubted that theory.

Four faces left, four suspects. Four potential enemies. Four for sure enemies? Janus didn't know.

"Guys," Emile called out. "Please don't go doubting eachother yet. Even if the Mastermind is among us, we still have three people we can trust."

Logan stood up. "Emile is right. We can spend time suspecting eachother, or we can find clues pointing at the true Mastermind. Until then I'll start by developing three of these photos today, and the other three tomorrow." 

With the photos in hand, Logan left. 

"Hey Virgil, can you help me with something? I need a short person and you're the shortest here so..." Emile asked. Janus just got the feeling Emile was trying to get Remus and him alone. Sly bastard.

Virgil nodded, and followed Emile out.

"Then there were two." Remus joked out.

"Yep." What was he suppose to say? Janus had nothing to say, but he had plenty to think.

"C'mon, don't leave me in awkward silence."

"Well, I don't know what to say?"

Remus chuckled. "How about you ask 'Are you the son of a bitch that kidnapped us?'."

Janus gave a deadpan look. "Would you answer honestly?"

Remus put a hand over his heart and closed his eyes. "Cross my heart and hope to die."

"I hope you're not suicidal then. Are you the Mastermind?"

"Nope," He popped the 'P. "Are you?"

"No." Janus was seventy eight percent sure he wasn't, and majority votes rule.

"Good, then we can trust eachother." Remus grabbed Janus's hand. Janus could almost feel his pulse. What would it feel weakened?

"We don't know that either. With five of us left, good chance one of us will be the next killer."

Remus let go of his hand. "You don't know that there will be a next murder. Maybe will find out who the Mastermind is, and they'll be the last body."

"Do you believe that?" Janus let out a small laugh. "We have had the shittiest lucky! Why would it change now?"

Remus shrugged, a slightly cold demeanor came from him. "Aren't we owed some good luck now? With everything that's happened to us, we deserve a slight release."

Janus then remembered that Remus's own brother had committed suicide in this hell school. Maybe they should all be like Roman.

Remus took in a breathe and relaxed his posture just slightly.

"I'm going to go take a nap. I'm feeling tired now." Remus left without another word. Janus kept the urge to follow him down, and he looked back at the photos.

Maybe if he couldn't kill the himself, maybe he would kill the Mastermind. Or maybe it would be someone innocent. Janus didn't care too much at the moment.

Janus woke up the next morning still tired. He's been really tired recently. How many days has he been here? That's how long he's been tired for. Janus wants to be awake again. Don't all of them want to be awake.

The walk down to the cafeteria was tedious. This had become far too familiar to Janus, the routine was basically burnt inside of his skull.

Wake up, go to cafeteria, make meaningless conversation, go explore new rooms. Repeat instructions until body is discovered.

Well, Janus thinks maybe it's about time for the final step. The final leap before escaping. 

First he needs a plan. 

It might be weird to be planning. A murder around the people he plans on killing, but they can't know what he's think.

As he snacked on a bagel, he had do think first things first.

("Yes, you can't plan murder on an empty stomach." Roman tried to joke a little, but it just made Patton give him a stern look.)

Where and when? All the previous murders had taken place at night, maybe Janus could shake it up. It would be far more risky, but maybe Janus could establish an alibi?

If he lured someone into the art room, then he could kill them and shove them into the giant closet. He could then meet up with someone else and that would create his alibi.

What about the murder weapon? Using something from the history room would be to suspicious, so maybe a simple kitchen knife would do.

Then who? Who could he get to follow him? The first person he thought of was Remus. Remus trusts Janus so much, it would be easy to lure him into the art room. Then he would just have to sink the knife into his chest.

(". . ." Roman didn't say anything at Janus. He didn't glare, just gave him a disappointed look.)

"Don't look at me like that." Janus muttered bitterly.

(". . ." His expression didn't change. Roman crossed his arms and looked at Janus sadly.)

"At least say something." Janus glared at the dead boy, who may or may not be watching him currently.

(". . . Don't." His voice was quiet but stern, almost strained. Possibly from the way his neck snapped. Roman wordlessly walked away.)

"Hey, don't walk away from me you asshole!"

(Roman did not turn back, but the others turned their attention to Janus. The wounded students looked at him with different combinations of emotions. 

"Janus." They said quietly, stage whispering. "Janus. Janus. Janus!" They got louder. Really loud. It was getting far too fucking loud. His name echoed loudly in his head, and the voices of the people around him merged into one voice.)

"Janus!" Janus opened his eyes, to see everyone looking down at him as he was laying on a cool surface.

"Huh?" Janus realised he was on the floor. Emile helped him sit up as he was handed a cup of cold water by Virgil. 

"Good thing you're awake, you scared all of us." Logan patted his shoulder.

"What happened?" Warm pain was spread through out his head.

"You muttered something none of us could hear. Then Logan entered the room to show us the photo's he developed, and you stood up then passed out. Remus was close enough to make sure you didn't hit your head." Emile explained, still looking nervous. To Janus, he almost looked afraid.

"Shit, I'm sorry," He rubbed the back of his throbbing head. "I just haven't been sleeping well lately."

Logan nodded. "It's alright. Do you think you are alright to receive some grave information?"

Janus sighed, and slowly sat down on an actual chair. "Can't be worst thing here, so why the fuck not?"

Logan took out three photos, and slid them each onto the table. 

All three had amazing quality, that's for sure. But the subjects of the photos were dreadful.

The first photo showed a blonde woman. She did look lovely, however, the fact that her stomache was torn open and her guts were spilled distracted from her beauty.

The next was a lady with black hair this time.

"No-!" Virgil cut himself off and gagged a little. Emile raced into the kitchen and quickly returned with a small trashcan.

Virgil vomited into it. Janus look at the photo then back at Virgil. Both of them shared the same dark brown eyes.

Except the lady's were lifeless. Spears stuck through her limp body as red stain her, well, everywhere.

Emile was gently rubbing Virgil's back. He was still slumped over but the nausea had stop.

"Mom- mu- mom." He was whispering.

Janus swore he heard a 'revenge' in Virgil's incoherent mumbled. Janus felt bad, and suddenly felt less guilt about what his plan was.

If he killed Remus, he could win the game then kill the Mastermind. For his buddy Virgil. 

Finally, he looked at the third photograph. It was a man this time, causing Emile to gasp. 

"That's my uncle." Emile was shocked. He turned slightly pale at the drowned body of his uncle, but kept his composure.

"That's all I was able to get for now, but the other three will be ready by tomorrow." Logan stated quickly. His eyes darted around the room as if he was looking for what to say next, but after a moment of that, he simply just left.

The room was quiet. Janus found that was happening more and more often than before. The silence felt heavy to him, and did not help his faint feeling.

He knew he would have to do it soon, and for everyone. 

"Janus, do you want help getting back to your dorm so you can rest?" Emile stood up and offered him a hand.

Janus nodded and took it, noticing he still felt lightheaded as his legs were wobbly.

Emile shifted Janus in a way that Emile supported a good amount of his body weight, and the two made their way out of the room.

"We need to talk." Emile said as soon as they closed the door.

"About what?" Did Janus actually know, or was he playing dumb? 

"It's just, I'm concerned about you," Emile slowed down slightly before picking up the pace again. "My uncle is- was, a therapist, so I know a lot of about that stuff. Lately, I've noticed you talking to yourself, staring to to space with a look that could only be described as like, I don't know, some sort of giddy sadisticism."

Janus felt dread pool into his stomache. Luckily it was only a minute more until they reached his dorm.

"I- I'm just scared for you. Being here has effected all of us greatly, and the news of there being a mastermind is causing all of us to drift apart further. I think that the Mastermind is planning something to shatter us completely, whether it be a clue or something they personally do."

They reached Janus's dorm. Without Emile's help, he unlocked the door. Just as he was about to enter Emile called out to him.

"Just- If you're feeling anything bad, please talk to me, or anyone about it! I promise all of us will help you."

The nervous look on Emile's face made Janus's ever so guilty. But not that much.

Janus smiled, the same one you give teachers. "Of course. I trust all of you, and I'll let you know if I ever feel any of those." He quickly shut and locked the door before popping down on his bed.

On the other side of the door, Emile stood there a second longer, almost tempted to break the door to help his friend. But he just rubbed his eyes underneath his glasses and left to go worry somewhere else.

The rest of the day was a blur, and the hushed voices of those who came to visit rung in his head.

Virgil brought him some food, asked how he was, then left. The boy even smaller than him was more apathetic then him sometimes.

Logan checked in on him once, and told him to take it easy.

Neither Remus nor Emile visited him. It hurt Janus slightly, but it seemed to be for the best. The pain he would have to both all of them was infuriating to him. 

When he would up the next morning, he found he was not drooling, but instead crying. This made him angry at himself, because he knew the tears falling were not his to weep.

He made his way to the cafeteria. Today was the day.

Like usual, Janus was the last to arrive. Maybe it was foreshadowing he would be the last to survive as well.

Everyone ate breakfast in silent that hummed to Janus.

Everyone soon left to do their own thing.

After waiting a few hours, Janus skipped into the kitchen. Luck was on his side, because he encountered no one there.

He picked up a good sized knife. He almost dropped it, as it felt hot. Almost like it was burning his skin.

Ignoring the pain that borderlined glee, he tucked the knife under his shirt and into the waistband of his pants. 

Looking at himself in a mirror, he found no trace of the weapon he concealed. He was saw nothing of his previous self.

With the feeling of nervousness in his gut, he headed upstairs to where he thought Remus might have been.

Looking where Janus found him last time, Remus was not staring at the photographs that seemed lively. Janus almost didn't want to leave the room. Almost like if he stayed, he could block out the feelings he had. Maybe he could live in a happy photograph.

But he stopped try to fool himself, and walked into the art room to see if he could continue on with the sin he was about to commit.

In the art room, Remus was there. It felt to Janus as if Remus was waiting for his bringing of death to find him.

Virgil was also there. Staring intensely at the canvas, while stroking it with a red brush.

Remus saw him and smiled. "Hey, Jan, how are you doing?"

Jan. What a lovely little nickname. "I'm fine. I was looking for you actually," Janus noticed Remus raise an eyebrow, but ignored it. "Can I talk to you?"

Remus looked at Virgil, who waved him off with his free hand. "Begone."

Remus shrugged and turned back to Janus. "Alright, I'll follow where you go."

This was going to be too easy.

Janus lead him to the photography room. Because Virgil was in the art room, he would have to go slightly different. He would say Remus went to check on Logan in the room next door, and never came back. 

Remus looked at the pictures fondly. "You know, Roman looked to take pictures of his friends. He claimed that he 'loved to see people being lively'. Once, he asked a girl on the bus if he could take a picture of her because he loved her dyed hair."

"Did he consider joining the photography club?"

Remus shook his head. "He wanted to badly, but was always too busy with community theatre."

"Too bad," Janus snaked his hand into Remus's, who held back. "I'm sure he would have enjoyed it." 

Remus touch his back in a comforting manner. 

"I miss him. Like, he was an fucking asshole around 68% of the time, but he was my Damn brother."

Janus gave him a hug. He now could take out the knife and plunge it into Remus's back. 

But then Remus hugged back, and because of his tall height, he trapped Janus.

"I really glad I have you here. It seems like you're the only one I can trust here, and I know that you'll be the one I put all my faith in."

Okay, who the fuck was Janus kidding? He couldn't do this. His enamored feelings and morally good upbringing overcame the insanity freedom cursed upon him.

"I trust you too." Janus murmured into Remus's chest. 

"I'm glad."

Remus looked at a clock behind Janus "It looks like Logan might be finished with rest of the photos. Wanna go check on him?"

Janus really didn't. What if he saw his mom in one of those photos? But he sucked it up and nodded.

"Let's go."

Remus nodded, and turned around for a moment. Janus took the opportunity to quietly discard the knife underneath a desk.

Remus turned back with a camera. "I don't know why, but I just wanna bring it." 

Janus saw there was only one camera left after that. Wasn't there three before? He could worry about that later.

Hand in hand still, they exited the photography room.

They entered the darkroom to find Logan slumped over a desk, looking sleeping.

Janus thought he was asleep, until he noticed the blood on Logan's back.

Remus noticed too and turned serious. "Go get Virgil."

Janus didn't react before sprinting into the next room.

Virgil glared at him, until he noticed the fear on his face.

"What happened?" Virgil dropped the red paint brush, and it stained the white floor.

Virgil got up and followed Janus out of the room.

The two also saw Emile in hallway. He noticed their frightened faces and followed them into the darkroom without hesitation.

When they entered the room, Emile and Virgil looked shocked at their dead friend.

*A body has been discovered!*

The monitor flicked to life like all of them wished Logan would. "A class trial will begin shortly! You can use the time before the trial however you wish

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Earily Holidays! Is this what you wanted?


	10. DYI Dective Is On the Case!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for not updating before! It's been really hard to write this consider how I plan to end this book, plus I've been working on other projects, INCLUDING planning the second book for my murder series.
> 
> Anyway, sorry its short, but enjoy!

Monokuma pulled out four Monokuma Files wordlessly. Janus swore he heard the bear giggling.

Monokuma left as soon as everyone had a Monokuma File.

*'THE DEATH OF LOGAN GARBELL*

*TIME OF DEATH: 11:35A.M.*

*CAUSE OF DEATHS: PENETRATED BY WEAPON*

*ROOM FOUND: DARKROOM*

Silently, everyone walked in different directions, already knowing what had to be done.

Janus stayed in the room to examine Logan's body.

He still looked alive, which made sense considering his death was barely an hour ago. This made Janus shiver, because this was the first murder to happen in the day. 

To happen when someone could walked in and stopped it, the feeling was so. . . Despairful. The others had a blanket of darkness to help cover their crimes, but this time, the blanket was pulled off.

Logan was faced down on the desk as he was slumped over. Janus saw a small three inch wide circle of darkness staining the back of Logan's shirt. Looking at the desk, Janus saw blood pooled on the wooden desk, meaning the weapon went through him.

Examining the desk, Janus saw a couple odd things. 

First, the three photos Logan was developing were missing. The room was set up in a way that looked like the photos were done, which was right alone with the time Logan said it would take.

Secondly, he saw a camera. It looked belonged in the photography room, so why was it here? He knew that Logan was interested in photography but it just felt off. He had no use for that camera, so why take it?

The final thing was dark red words. A bloody message.

Janus squinted and attempted to read the dying message. 'tI417950n'.

What? Janus reread the words but only saw the same result. Damn, it was an unhelpful dying message.

Janus took note of it, before shuddering. Why was it so cold in there? This whole floor felt literally like Hell had frozen over.

He rubbed his arms before leaving the room. 

Next he went next dorm to the art room, still freezing cold. Emile was looking around, but his heart didn't seem in it. He was just glancing around the room.

"I can search in here, please go look around somewhere useful. Maybe try to find the murder weapon?"

Emile didn't look at him while saying this. Without the tone, his words sounded almost passive aggressive. But they were just tired. Janus didn't know which one was worse.

"Okay, but have you at least found anything in here?"

Emile shook his head and mumbled something unintelligible. Janus sighed and left the room.

Next he stepped into the history room, feeling warmer. Looks like Hell melted. He was blocked by Virgil, who was trying to step around something, but failing.

Virgil noticed Janus and sighed. "The murder weapon must have come from in here. There's broken glass everywhere you step, yet there are no weapons."

Janus shifted his gaze to the ground and the statement was proven true.

"Look over there," Virgil pointed in the middle of the mess. "There's a red streak there. Do you think the killer broke everything on purpose but accidently cut themself?"

"That seems to be the most likely."

Virgil nodded. "I'm gonna try and search through this, you can stay or go or whatever."

He went quiet at the end of his sentence as he kneeled down carefully and began clearing the pieces using his left arm.

Janus left yet another room as his feelings of fear grew deeper.

Remus was in the photography room, searching near the desks. He abruptly stood up when Janus entered the room, but visibly softened when he saw it was just him.

"Find anything in here?"

"Not yet, but I have the feeling I'll find something soon."

"Oh? How come?" 

Remus smiled at him, but it was full of pain. "I think we're owed something now. Don't you?"

Janus wasn't sure. Maybe they deserved everything happening to them. Why else would they be tortured by some sadistic self-proclaimed mastermind?

Despite his inner feelings, Janus nodded. "I suppose so."

Remus bent back down, though Janus knew the conversation wasn't quite over.

"How are you?"

"What do you think?" Janus deadpaned. 

Remus laughed, but then hit his head on the desk, making the short blond chuckle.

He took his head out from underneath the desk, rubbing it but moving onto the next one of multiple.

"I expected something like that from you. But I don't know if you're some type of masochist."

"Nope. But I get sadist vibes from you." Janus teased, not thinking he would get an answer.

"Well actually..."

"Oh god, don't tell me you're into this."

Remus scrambled out and looked at him disgusted. "First of all, what the fuck? Secondly, I'm not like that anymore."

Anymore? That piqued Janus's interest. He never could imagine the smart and smooth man he had come to know as anyone different.

"What happened then? What changed?"

Remus shrugged. "I dunno honestly. I guess I just realized it was weird. My nature was very sadistic."

How very? He couldn't be too much of a freak.

"What, did you watch too many porns with blood kinks?"

Remus bite his lip, and looked like he was wishing he was the one killed.

"I wasn't a sexual sadist. Before the end of junior year, I enjoyed seeing people in pain. I would target who ever I had too, just to hear their nose crack and see blood splattered on the pavement. Or I would corner them in a valley and glide a switchblade across their stomache. I would do what I had to, just to see blood."

Janus couldn't help the gasp that slipped out. He heard rumors at school about a few people who did things like that. One kid got bullied physically and mentally so bad, he overdosed on his anxiety meds.

Remus nodded. "I know what you're thinking, and that's why I stopped. To think I helped cause so much pain to one person they took their own life- it made me rethink my whole way of life. So I was done with it."

Janus was nodding along. What was happening? Where did this come from? 

"You know, Roman used to be scared of me. We didn't fix our relationship until the beginning of senior year, even then he still didn't fully trust me. It's horrifying to know that my own twin brother took his life while I'm still here, and having to bare the cross!"

Janus pulled by his waist Remus into a hug. He wrapped his arms around the tall male who was stiff.

"I can tell you're different now. That is what matters. The past is the past, and that doesn't make your actions right, nor does it excuse them, but it means you've gotten more mature. I know that the man I'm holding is not the one I just heard about. You are a good man, and I can guarantee that."

Remus leaned in and bent down enough to return the hug. Putting his head on the short man's shoulder he sighed.

"Thanks. I'm sorry for just saying that all of a sudden."

"Don't apologize, I think all of us deserve to rant after all the shit we've gone through and will still have to face later."

The thoughts of the future scared both of them. Would one of them die? Both of them? They knew things wouldn't instantly become okay if they got out, but leaving this place would help them.

Right?

Remus lifted his head off of Janus's shoulder.

"Well what abo- huh?" Remus stopped in the middle of his sentence. He escaped from the embrace and walked behind Janus. 

Janus was confused about having to let go, but his confusion turned to fear once he saw what Remus was holding.

A knife. Not just any knife, no, this knife held on to Janus's inner vice of what he almost did yesterday. The knife he threw under a desk once his sanity began to get restored.

"Well, looks like we did find something in here." Remus examined the knife carefully, not noticing the guilt dripping from the other boy.

"I don't think it can be the murder weapon, but I think it's important to the murder somehow. I'll hold onto it and we'll tell the others at the trial."

All Janus could do was nod. That was all bullshit, but if the truth came out, all the trust they had in eachother would shatter and bleed out.

"I'm going to go check Logan's door. I'll see you when it's time." Janus didn't wait for a response for taking his leave. 

Logan's dorm was plain. Nothing exciting to be found.

Janus rummaged through the bathroom and drawers but found nothing, which was not a shock considering his current focus was on a kitchen utensil.

Before he gave up and made a cup of coffee, Janus looked under the bed for good measure.

Seeing a small brown book, Janus realized he would not be getting his caffeine fill.

After a few minutes of struggling to reach the book, Janus somehow had gotten it in his hands.

Feeling the leather cover, he remembered where he had seen this before. 

This was Logan's journal, the one that got slightly messed with.

It felt weird holding it, considering the one who wrote it was newly expired. Is this what it felt like after a famous author died, as you held their work to you're heart, did people try and gather the information dead?

He slowly lifted the cover to the first page, feeling like being too brute would crack the dry leather.

But before he could soak up the page, his funeral song chimed somberly.

"Attention Students! It is now time for our third class trial. If you don't know where to go, then I've failed as a teacher! Don't forget that attendance is mandatory, and skipping means I can chop off your left arm and right leg!"

The message abruptly ended as Janus closed the journal before he got the chance to open it.

Holding it tightly, he made his way towards the chapter in his unhappy narrative. He begged the journal could contain hope for the remaining four souls as despair consumed them.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoy, and beware of what will happen later in the book!
> 
> Also comments are appreciated!!!!! Please leave comments!!!!


End file.
